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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #66531 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66531)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature,
-Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 44, Vol. I, November 1, 1884, by
-Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art,
- Fifth Series, No. 44, Vol. I, November 1, 1884
-
-Author: Various
-
-Release Date: October 13, 2021 [eBook #66531]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed
- Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
- produced from images generously made available by The Internet
- Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 44, VOL. I, NOVEMBER 1,
-1884 ***
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration:
-
-CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
-
-OF
-
-POPULAR
-
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART
-
-Fifth Series
-
-ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832
-
-CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS)
-
-NO. 44.—VOL. I. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1884. PRICE 1½_d._]
-
-
-
-
-HOW THE WEATHER IS MADE AND FORECAST.
-
-
-In the minds of foreigners, it is held to be one of the many
-peculiarities of the people of these islands that so much of their
-casual conversation consists of remarks on the weather. The national
-temperament is often held to be responsible for this failing; but some
-of the blame must no doubt be laid at the door of the weather itself.
-Our climate presents such a record of change and uncertainty, that we
-need not wonder if it is always in our minds, and the first subject on
-our lips when we meet a friend. Other lands may have their cold and
-hot, dry, and rainy periods, that come round in the proper order year
-after year with unvarying monotony; but with us it may be said of the
-weather, that we rarely know what a day or an hour may bring forth.
-Even the seasons seem occasionally to be independent of any necessity
-of visiting us at the particular time of the year at which we have
-been taught to expect them. Spring weather in November, or a winter
-temperature in July, or a November fog in the merry month of May, all
-seem to be amongst the possibilities of our climate.
-
-Happily, our meteorologists are at length beginning to define with
-growing clearness and confidence the laws which underlie and regulate
-the complicated and ever varying phenomena which we call the weather,
-and many of these laws, like most natural laws, are beautiful in
-their simplicity. Although ‘weather wisdom’ is as old as history
-itself, the science of the weather or meteorology is a growth of the
-last few years. The weather wisdom of our forefathers may in the
-light of present knowledge be divided into sense and nonsense. Under
-the nonsense may be included not only such proverbs as that which
-attributed to St Swithin’s day and certain other times and seasons,
-occult influences over the weather, but most of the information of the
-old almanacs, which used to ascribe the character of the weather to
-the positions and movements of the heavenly bodies and the age and
-changes of the moon. The prevalence of the belief that the weather
-was regulated by such influences, can only be accounted for by the
-well-known love of the human mind for the wonderful and inexplicable.
-Much of the old weather lore, however, had a large element of truth
-in it, and was the result of the collective experience of many
-generations, which had found that certain phenomena were generally
-followed by certain conditions of weather. The saying, that a rosy
-sky in the morning presages rainy weather, and the same appearance
-in the evening, fine weather, was current weather lore before the
-Christian era, and is recognised as being, in a certain sense, true at
-the present day. Amongst sailors, farmers, shepherds, and such like,
-weather maxims, the result of observation and experience, have always
-been current, and the value of many of these is now recognised and
-explained by science.
-
-The first step towards acquiring an insight into the causes which
-control our weather is a study of the laws which regulate the flow and
-changes of the winds in these islands. The air is the great medium
-in which all the changes of weather are elaborated. We live at the
-bottom of a great ocean of air, which extends for many miles upwards,
-and which is always heaving and changing, like the other ocean which
-it covers. The winds, which are the ever-changing currents which flow
-through this invisible sea, are, roughly speaking, the principal
-factors in the making of the weather. Many of us know very well the
-general character of the weather which accompanies the wind from the
-principal points of the compass, that which comes from the moist warm
-south-west, for instance; or with the blustering, shower-bringing
-north-wester; or with the harsh, dry, east wind in spring; but to most
-of us the wind itself ‘bloweth where it listeth.’ The movements of the
-air and changes of the wind are, however, subject to laws, a knowledge
-of which is in some degree necessary before we can understand how our
-weather is made for us.
-
-A simple definition of the wind which we ordinarily experience is
-that it is air obeying the force of gravity, in seeking to return to
-an equilibrium which has been disturbed. By the aid of the barometer
-we are able to form some idea of what is constantly taking place
-in the great ocean above us. The principle upon which this simple
-and useful instrument is constructed is easily understood. The air
-presses downwards upon the earth’s surface with a weight averaging
-nearly fifteen pounds to the square inch. If a portion of the surface
-of any fluid is relieved from this pressure by inverting over it a
-tube exhausted of air, the weight of the air upon the surface outside
-will force the fluid up into the tube until the weight of the column
-counterbalances the pressure which the air would exercise upon the
-amount of surface covered by the mouth of the tube. A column of mercury
-in such a case will rise in an air-exhausted tube to a height of about
-thirty inches; while water, from its lighter specific gravity, rises to
-a height of about thirty-four feet before it counterbalances the weight
-of the air above. The depth, and consequently the pressure, of the air
-overhead is, however, constantly varying within certain limits; and the
-column of mercury in the barometer enables us to keep a faithful record
-of the movements of the waves of air in the great ocean under which we
-live. At times, the depth of air above us is comparatively shallow, and
-the pressure beneath is lessened; the column of mercury is not raised
-so high, and the barometer is said to fall. At other times, the air
-is heaped up in particular places; the pressure beneath is increased,
-and the barometer is said to rise. In stormy weather, the column of
-water in a water-barometer where the scale is very large may be seen to
-pulsate with every change of pressure from the air-waves at the surface.
-
-The winds are nothing more than the rush of air from the regions of
-high pressure to fill up the spaces where low pressure prevails. Thus,
-if the column of mercury should stand 28.6 inches high at London, with
-a gradual rise as we travelled northward, until the barometer-reading
-was 29 inches at Edinburgh at the same time, this would indicate that
-a region of depression existed over the former place, and we should
-expect a rush of air in the form of wind blowing upon London from the
-north.
-
-When the barometrical readings taken simultaneously at stations
-distributed over a wide area are compared, the distribution of
-atmospheric pressure can be ascertained, and it is possible to tell
-from this the force and direction of the winds prevailing within this
-area, and generally also the weather which is likely to be experienced.
-The greater the inequality of pressure, the greater will be the rush of
-air to the centre of depression, and the stronger will be the wind. The
-wind, however, does not flow in a straight line from a region of high
-to a region of low pressure. The surrounding air from all quarters has
-a tendency to flow in, and, as with water, which rushes to the centre
-of a funnel when it is flowing out at the bottom, a gyratory movement
-is the result. The wind blows round a centre of depression in this
-way, always curving inward towards the centre; and in the northern
-hemisphere, this gyratory movement of the wind is always in a direction
-against the hands of a watch, while the contrary is the case in the
-southern hemisphere. These principles of the relation of the winds to
-atmospheric pressure hold good without exception over all the world.
-They were first definitively stated in America twenty-five years ago;
-but Professor Buys Ballot of Utrecht first drew attention to them in
-Europe, and the law expressing them is now generally recognised as Buys
-Ballot’s law.
-
-In ordinary circumstances in our latitude, the winds are generally
-regulated by the differences in pressure induced by contrasts between
-continents and oceans. Where the air becomes heated, an area of low
-pressure is produced, the warm air becoming rarefied and ascending, and
-the heavier cold air rushing in from the sides to supply its place. In
-winter, the weather over these islands is controlled to a great extent
-by the winds which sweep round a large area of depression which exists
-over the Atlantic, the mean centre of which is about midway between
-the continents of Europe and America, in the latitude of the Orkney
-Islands. This depression is the result of the contrast produced between
-the comparatively warm air over this portion of the Atlantic and the
-much colder air over the northern portion of Europe and America,
-which is continually flowing in to supply the place of the lighter
-and constantly ascending warm air. The winds sweeping round this
-centre strike our shores from the south-west. This depression is not
-stationary, but is continually shifting over a large but well-defined
-area, and it gives rise to many subsidiary eddies, or small cyclone
-systems as they are called, which sometimes skirt our coasts, or travel
-over these islands, bringing with them the storms of wind and rain and
-sudden changes of the wind with which we are familiar. In spring, the
-prevailing winds from the east and north-east, so much dreaded by many,
-are the result of a large cyclonic system formed by the sudden increase
-of temperature over middle and southern Europe, as the sun’s rays gain
-strength and the days lengthen. The temperature is not yet sufficiently
-high to bring in the air from off the Atlantic, as happens when the
-season is further advanced, so that the cold air rushes in from the
-polar regions in a huge eddy, striking our coasts from the east and
-north-east, and bringing in its train all the attendant miseries which
-make our English spring a time to be dreaded by the weak and ailing.
-
-A knowledge of the general principles which direct the flow of our
-prevailing winds is, however, only of general assistance in enabling
-us to forecast the weather which we experience in these islands. This
-is governed and produced to a great extent by the development of
-subsidiary centres of depression in and between the great cyclonic
-systems. These generally approach our shores from the west, travelling
-in a north-easterly direction; and they are responsible for most of
-the variable weather with which we are so familiar. They generally
-carry with them a certain well-defined course of weather. The readings
-of the barometer taken simultaneously at many places over a wide
-area on a system such as that now controlled by the Meteorological
-Office, enables us to determine the approach and development of these
-small cyclonic systems, and so to forecast with a certain degree of
-confidence the weather likely to be experienced in a certain district
-from twelve to twenty-four hours in advance. Most of the disturbing
-influences reach us from the west; and as the west coast of Ireland
-is the extreme limit to which our stations reach in that direction,
-we can receive only very short notice of their approach. This is
-one of the principal reasons why, with the means at present at our
-disposal, we cannot expect to make our weather science as perfect
-as in a country such as America, where the central office receives
-warnings from stations dispersed over the face of a vast continent.
-Nevertheless, we have made great advances since 1861, when the first
-weather forecasts were prepared and issued in this country by the Board
-of Trade, under the superintendence of the late Admiral Fitzroy. The
-forecasts at that time, although admitted to be of considerable utility
-to the country, were thought to be scarcely accurate enough to justify
-their continuance upon the system then in operation, and they were
-discontinued in 1866.
-
-In the following year, the Meteorological Office was constituted
-upon its present footing, and the daily publication of forecasts has
-continued down to the present. Considering that—judging from the
-forecasts published daily in the newspapers—the chances of a successful
-forecast are on the average about seventy-nine per cent. for ordinary
-weather, while the percentage of successes is slightly higher in the
-case of storm warnings, it is evident that the Meteorological Office is
-capable of rendering important service to the community at large. Every
-morning, the central office in London receives telegraphic reports
-from fifty-three stations. It also receives thirteen reports every
-afternoon, and nineteen each evening. Besides the numerous well-placed
-observation stations in the British Islands, there are twenty-three
-foreign reporting stations, extending along the entire western coast
-of Europe, from which information is received, in accordance with
-arrangements made with the meteorological organisations in Norway,
-Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, and France. The morning observations
-are made at all the British stations at eight A.M. Greenwich time, and
-are transmitted direct to the Meteorological Office, where they are
-received between nine and ten o’clock. Thus are given the barometrical
-and thermometrical readings at the various stations at eight A.M.;
-the direction and force of the wind, and the state of the weather,
-together with any changes of importance which may have been noticed in
-the course of the preceding day. From these reports, weather charts
-are made out, forecasts of the weather are prepared and issued to the
-evening papers in London and the provinces; and a telegraphic résumé of
-the weather, or, if necessary, intelligence of storms, is despatched to
-various points on our coasts and to foreign countries. The forecasts
-for the morning daily papers are issued at half-past eight P.M. on
-the previous evening. They are prepared from reports received from
-twenty-six home and six foreign stations; but although these are the
-most widely distributed and read of any issued from the office, they
-are much less complete than the eight A.M. forecasts.
-
-The _Times_ publishes every morning with the forecasts the weather
-chart issued by the department. This chart shows the condition and
-movements of the atmosphere over the British Isles and the vicinity;
-the distribution of pressure; the temperature, state of the sea, and
-the force and direction of the winds blowing within the area at six
-P.M. on the previous day.
-
-The familiar dotted lines termed isobars, which are such a feature in
-weather maps of this sort, are lines at all places along which the
-barometer stands at the same height. Except where their regularity
-is broken by the existence of subsidiary disturbances, these lines
-extend in gradually widening circles around a centre of depression,
-the barometer always standing highest along the outside curve, and
-gradually and regularly falling towards the centre; so that if we could
-view our atmosphere from above one of those centres of depression, we
-would see a deep hollow, with sides sloping downwards to the centre,
-towards which the revolving air was being gradually indrawn, like water
-in an eddy.
-
-At intervals, we receive warning across the Atlantic, from the _New
-York Herald_ weather bureau, respecting storms which are crossing
-the Atlantic towards our coasts, and which are often described as
-‘likely to develop dangerous energy’ on their way. Although many of
-those warnings are subsequently justified, or partially justified,
-it must not be supposed that these are storms which have left the
-American continent on their way to us, and that it has been possible
-to calculate their course across the Atlantic and predict the
-time of arrival upon our coasts. Mr Clement Ley, Inspector to the
-Meteorological Council, tells us that it is not yet satisfactorily
-shown that storms cross the Atlantic from America, and he presumes that
-arrangements must be effected by which the logs of passing steamers may
-be consulted in America as to the character of the weather experienced
-in crossing from this country; and from the information received in
-this manner, it is possible to arrive at conclusions respecting the
-direction and character of storms travelling towards this side of the
-Atlantic, and to anticipate their arrival by telegraph, the warning
-being flashed beneath the ocean in time to reach us long before the
-storm itself.
-
-The variety and complexity of the phenomena which have to pass under
-careful observation render the science of the weather an exceedingly
-difficult one to study, more especially as, up to the present, we have
-done little more than master its fundamental principles. The time ought
-not, however, to be far distant when we shall have the means at our
-disposal to enable us to forecast the weather with a nearer approach to
-certainty than we can attain at present. The results already obtained
-by the Meteorological Office are certainly encouraging, and it must
-be remembered that, in attempting to forecast the weather in this
-country, it labours under two serious disadvantages. The first is our
-geographical position, which at present precludes us from obtaining
-any but the shortest notice of weather approaching from the west—the
-point from which most of our weather comes. The other drawback is of a
-pecuniary nature, and it is to be regretted that it prevents us from
-testing to the full limit the usefulness of the Meteorological Office.
-It may be argued that, in this country, storms are seldom so sudden or
-disastrous as to justify us in maintaining at a very much larger outlay
-an organisation which would enable us to be warned of their approach.
-It is, however, only necessary to take into account the enormous losses
-in life and property occasioned every year by the weather in shipwreck
-alone, in order to appreciate what might be the value to the nation of
-a properly organised system of weather science, did it only succeed in
-reducing, even by a small percentage, the annual number of wrecks on
-our coasts.
-
-
-
-
-BY MEAD AND STREAM.
-
-BY CHARLES GIBBON.
-
-
-CHAPTER LIV.—POOR COMFORT.
-
-Madge awakened from the reverie into which she had fallen, to find
-Aunt Hessy’s kind eyes resting on her inquiringly and with a shade of
-sorrow in them. She, however, instantly awoke, brightened and spoke
-with cheerful confidence, although there was a certain note of timidity
-in her voice indicating that she had not yet quite recovered from the
-effects of the scene in her bedroom.
-
-‘You see, aunt, how wickedly Philip has been deceived, and that I was
-right to trust Mr Shield.’
-
-‘Yes, but—Mr Beecham?’
-
-Madge’s cheeks flushed, the smile disappeared, and the head was lifted
-with something like impatience. It seemed as if the pronunciation
-of Beecham’s name in that questioning tone revealed to her the full
-significance of Wrentham’s insinuations—that she was not acting fairly
-to Philip.
-
-‘I have told you, aunt, that he is Mr Shield’s friend, and that
-he is doing everything that can be done to help Philip out of his
-difficulties. You cannot doubt that whatever I may do is for the same
-object.’
-
-‘Ah, child, I never doubted thee. My doubt is that whilst desiring to
-do right thou may’st have done wrong in giving the trust to a stranger
-thou’rt afraid to give to those that love thee.’
-
-‘Mr Beecham will himself tell you before the week is out that he gave
-me such proofs of his friendship as would have satisfied even you.’
-
-‘Well, well, we shall say no more, child, till the time comes;
-but never expect goodman Dick to be patient with what he thinks
-unreasonable. See what a handle this rogue Wrentham—I always felt
-that he was a rogue—has made of thy name to help him in cheating and
-bamboozling Philip! Take my word, we may turn our toes barely an inch
-from the straight path at starting, but we’ll find ourselves miles from
-it ere the end if we do not make a quick halt and go back.’
-
-‘I have only held my tongue,’ said the girl quietly enough, but the
-feeling of offended innocence was there.
-
-‘Holding the tongue when one should speak out is as bad as telling a
-book of lies—worse, for we don’t know how to deal with it.’
-
-‘I should be less sorry for vexing you, aunt,’ said the niece, ‘if I
-did not know that by-and-by you will be sorry for having been vexed
-with me.’
-
-‘So be it.—But now let us finish clearing up the room, and we’ll get
-the bedstead down in the morning. Dr Joy says that Mr Hadleigh is not
-nearly so much hurt as was thought at first, and that they may be able
-to move him in a day or two.’
-
-When the arrangements for turning the sitting-room into a bedroom had
-been completed—and there were nice details to be attended to in the
-operation, which the dame would intrust to no other hands than her own
-and her niece’s—Madge went in search of Pansy.
-
-Her sudden appearance in the kitchen interrupted the boisterous mirth
-which was going forward. When she inquired for Pansy Culver, there was
-an abashed look on the faces of those who had permitted the girl to go
-without inquiring whither; but Jenny Wodrow answered saucily:
-
-‘She got into a state when I was talking about Caleb Kersey, and
-slipped out before any of us could say Jack Robinson.’
-
-The silent reproof in the expression of Madge’s tender eyes had its
-effect even on this self-assertive damsel. Jerry Mogridge hobbled up to
-his young mistress.
-
-‘I’ll find her for you, Missy,’ he said cheerily, for he was in the
-happy state of mind of one who has enjoyed a good meal and knows that
-there is a good sleep lying between him and the next day’s toil.
-
-They went out to the yard, and Jerry, opening the door of the dairy,
-thrust his head into the darkness with the invocation: ‘Come out ov
-here, Pansy Culver; what are you doing there? Missy wants you.’ There
-was no answer, and after groping his way amidst cans and pails standing
-ready for the morning’s milk, he returned muttering: ‘She ain’t there
-anyhow. I’ll get the lantern, Missy, and we’ll soon find her, so being
-as she ha’n’t gone to her father’s.’
-
-Whilst Jerry went for the lantern, the moon began to light the
-snow-covered ground, and Madge discovered Pansy in the doorway of the
-stable. She was leaning against the door as if support were necessary
-to save her from falling. Madge put her arm round the girl, and drawing
-her out from the shadows into the moonlight, saw that the face was
-white as the snow at their feet, and felt that the form was shivering
-with agitation more than with cold.
-
-‘I knew it would upset you, Pansy; and intended to tell you myself, but
-wanted to do it when we were alone.’
-
-‘It doesn’t matter, Missy,’ answered the girl through her chattering
-teeth; ‘but thank you kindly. There’s no help for it now. I’ve been
-the ruin of him, and standing out here, I’ve seen how wicked and cruel
-I’ve been to him. I knew what he was thinking about, and I might have
-told him not to think of it—but I liked him—I like him, and I wish they
-would take me in his place. They ought to take me, for it was me that
-drove him to it.’
-
-‘Hush, hush, Pansy,’ said Madge with gentle firmness; ‘Caleb is
-innocent, and will be free in a few days. It was only some foolish
-business he had with Coutts Hadleigh which brought him under
-suspicion.’
-
-‘Yes, yes, but it was about me that he went to speak to Mr Coutts—and
-Mr Coutts never said anything to me that a gentleman might not say.
-Only he was very kind—very kind, and I came to think of him, and—and—it
-was all me—all me! And you, though you didn’t mean it, showed me
-how wrong it was, and I went away. And if Caleb had only waited,
-maybe—maybe.... I don’t know right what I am saying; but I would have
-come to myself, and have tried to make him happy.’
-
-This hysterical cry showed the best and the worst sides of the girl’s
-character. For a brief space she had yielded to the vanity of her sex,
-which accepts the commonplaces of gallantry as special tributes to the
-individual, and so had misinterpreted the attentions which Coutts would
-have paid to any pretty girl who came in his way. She had been rudely
-startled from her folly, and was now paying bitter penance for it. She
-took to herself all the blame of Caleb’s guilt, and insisted that she
-should be in jail, not him.
-
-Madge allowed her feelings to have full vent, and then was able to
-comfort her with the reiterated assurance of Caleb’s innocence, which
-would be speedily proved.
-
-The fit being over, Pansy showed herself to be a sensible being, and
-listened attentively to the kindly counsel of her friend. She agreed
-to follow her original plan, namely, to see her father in the morning
-and then return to Camberwell to devote her whole energies to the task
-of reclaiming her grandfather from his foolish ways and bringing him
-out to Ringsford. Madge was certain that this occupation would prove
-the best antidote to all Pansy’s unhappy thoughts and self-reproaches.
-Meanwhile it was arranged that Pansy should not have Jenny Wodrow for
-her bedfellow.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Affairs at the farm had gone on uncomfortably from the moment
-Dick Crawshay expressed displeasure with his niece. She made what
-advances she could towards reconciliation; but she did not yet offer
-any explanation. He was obliged to accept her customary service as
-secretary; but it was evident that he would have liked to dispense with
-it. Neither his appetite nor his slumbers were disturbed, however; and
-he slept soundly through the night whilst the fire was raging at the
-Manor. It was not until the wain with its load of milk-cans had started
-for the station that he heard from Jerry Mogridge the report of what
-had occurred.
-
-Then yeoman Dick mounted his horse and rode at full speed to Ringsford
-to offer what help it might be in his power to render, grumbling at
-himself all the way for not having been sooner aware of his neighbour’s
-danger. Finding Mr Hadleigh in the gardener’s cottage, where there was
-want of space and convenience, the farmer with impetuous hospitality
-invited the whole family to Willowmere. The invalid could not be
-removed until the doctor gave permission; but Caroline and Bertha were
-at once escorted to the farm. Miss Hadleigh remained at the cottage to
-assist the housekeeper in nursing her father: she was moved to do so by
-a sense of duty as well as by the knowledge that Alfred Crowell would
-come out as soon as he heard of the disaster, and he would expect to
-find her there.
-
-In the bustle and excitement of the first part of the day there was
-only one person who thought much about Philip and of the effect this
-new calamity might have upon him in his present state. As the afternoon
-advanced, everybody was wondering why he neither came nor sent any
-message. The arrival of Pansy relieved Madge on this and other points;
-and she was happily spared for that night the pain of learning that
-Philip did visit the gardener’s cottage without calling at Willowmere.
-
-Postman Zachy delivered two welcome letters in the cold gray light of
-the winter morning. Both were from Austin Shield—one for Mrs Crawshay,
-the other for Madge. The first simply stated that his old friend might
-expect to see him in a few days, and that he believed she would have
-reason to give him the kindly greeting which he knew she would like to
-give him. The second was longer and contained important information.
-
-‘Be patient and trust me still,’ it said. ‘You have fixed the week
-as the limit of your silence: before the time is out I shall be at
-Willowmere. Philip has acted in every way as I would have him act under
-the circumstances, except in the extreme mercy which he extends to
-the man Wrentham; but he pleads that it is for the sake of the poor
-lady and child whose happiness depends on the rascal, and I have been
-obliged to yield. At the last moment Wrentham attempted to escape, and
-would have succeeded but for the cleverness of the detective, Sergeant
-Dier.
-
-‘Be patient, and have courage till we meet again.’
-
-‘Be patient—have courage:’ excellent phrases and oftentimes helpful;
-but was there ever any one who at a crisis in life has found the words
-alone satisfactory? They by no means relieved Madge of all uneasiness,
-although she accepted them as a token that her suspense would soon be
-at an end. In one respect she was keenly disappointed: there was not a
-hint that the proofs she had given Mr Shield of Mr Hadleigh’s innocence
-of any complicity in his misfortunes had been yet acknowledged to be
-complete. Had that been done, Philip would have forgotten half his
-worries. Mr Shield was aware of that—he must be aware of it, and yet he
-was silent. She could not help thinking that there was some truth in Mr
-Hadleigh’s view of the eccentricity of his character.
-
-
-
-
-THE NEW MEDIÆVAL ROOM AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
-
-
-One of the rooms at the British Museum, left vacant by the removal of
-the Natural History Collection to South Kensington, has lately been
-re-opened, under the title of the Mediæval Room, with a collection
-of curious objects, many of which possess strong personal as well as
-antiquarian interest. The articles shown range from the twelfth century
-downwards. Some of them have already been on exhibition in another part
-of the building; but the majority are now publicly shown for the first
-time. The various items have been carefully arranged and labelled by
-Messrs Franks and Read, the curators of the Ethnological Department,
-the fullness of the appended descriptions more than compensating for
-the temporary lack of a catalogue.
-
-Among the curiosities of more modern date is a silver-mounted
-punch-bowl of Inveraray marble, formerly the property of the poet
-Burns, and presented by his widow to Alexander Cunningham. Not far
-distant rests the Lochbuy brooch, a massive ornament four inches in
-diameter, said to date from about the year 1500, and to have been
-fashioned out of silver found on the estate of Lochbuy, in Mull. Its
-centre is a large crystal, surrounded by upright collets bearing
-pearls of considerable size. It was long preserved as a sort of
-heirloom in the Lochbuy family, but passed out of it by the marriage
-of a female representative, and in course of time became part of the
-Bernal Collection, whence it was acquired by the British Museum. Hard
-by it is a handsomely carved casket, made of the wood of Shakspeare’s
-mulberry tree, and presented in 1769, with the freedom of the town of
-Stratford-on-Avon, to David Garrick. The majority of the exhibits,
-however, belong to very much earlier periods. There is a choice
-display of horn and tortoiseshell snuff and tobacco boxes, two of
-the latter—duplicates, save in some unimportant particulars—bearing
-the arms of Sir Francis Drake, and the representation of a ship in
-full sail. We are told that boxes of this same pattern are frequently
-offered to collectors as having been the personal property of the great
-admiral; but an inscription on one of the specimens here exhibited
-shows that they were actually made by one John Obrisset in 1712.
-
-An ordinary-looking piece of rock-crystal in one of the cases claims
-to be the veritable ‘show-stone’ or divining crystal of Dr Dee, the
-celebrated astrologer and alchemist of Queen Elizabeth’s time. Dee’s
-own account of the origin of the show-stone was as follows. He declared
-that one day in November 1582, while he was engaged in prayer, the
-angel Uriel appeared to him and presented him with a magic crystal,
-which had the quality, when steadfastly gazed into, of presenting
-visions, and even of producing articulate sounds. These sights and
-sounds, however, were only perceptible to a person endowed with the
-proper mediumistic faculty. This the doctor himself unfortunately
-lacked; but such a person was soon found in one Edward Kelly, who
-was engaged as the doctor’s assistant, and produced ‘revelations’
-with Joseph-Smith-like facility. Indeed, his revelations had more
-than one point in common with those of the Mormon apostle, for it is
-recorded that on one occasion he received a divine command that he
-and the doctor should exchange wives, which edifying little family
-arrangement was actually carried out, with much parade of prayer and
-religious ceremonial. It seems probable that Dee really believed
-in the manifestations, and was himself the dupe of his unscrupulous
-associate. Kelly was accustomed to describe what he saw and heard in
-the magic crystal, and Dr Dee took notes of the mystic revelations.
-These notes were, in 1659, collected and published in a folio volume
-by Dr Meric Casaubon, an eminent scholar of that day, who appears to
-have believed that the revelations were really the work of spirits,
-though of doubtful character. From these notes it would appear that
-Dee was possessed of two, if not more, divining crystals of various
-sizes. After his death, a stone, said to be one of these, came into the
-possession of the Earl of Peterborough, and thence into that of Lady
-Elizabeth Germaine. It subsequently fell into the hands of the then
-head of the House of Argyll, by whose son, Lord Frederick Campbell,
-it was presented to Horace Walpole. For many years it formed part of
-the Strawberry Hill Collection, and there was appended to the leather
-case in which it was contained a manuscript note, in Walpole’s own
-handwriting, describing it as ‘the black stone into which Dr Dee used
-to call his spirits,’ and recording the above facts respecting it. On
-the dispersion of the Strawberry Hill Collection in 1842, the stone
-in question is said to have been purchased, at the price of thirteen
-pounds, by Mr Smythe Pigott; and at the sale of that gentleman’s
-library in 1853, to have passed into the hands of Lord Londesborough.
-As to the later history of this particular stone, we have no
-information; but it is clearly not identical with the one in the
-British Museum. Horace Walpole’s is described as being a ‘black stone.’
-Others add that it was in shape a flat disk, with a loop or handle,
-and it is generally believed to have been a highly polished piece
-of cannel coal. The one in the British Museum more nearly resembles
-the descriptions given of Lady Blessington’s crystal, employed for
-a similar purpose by Lieutenant Morrison, the Zadkiel of ‘almanac’
-celebrity. It is a ball, about two inches in diameter, of rather dark
-rock-crystal, and, as Mr Read informs us, has been in the possession of
-the British Museum for nearly a century. Assuming, however, that, as
-stated in Casaubon’s notes, Dr Dee used two or more magic specula, this
-may of course have been one of them.
-
-This mystic crystal is appropriately flanked by a collection of
-oriental talismans, some in metal, for suspension from the neck; others
-of agate or chalcedony, engraved with charms and cabalistic signs, for
-reproduction on wax or parchment. Here also are a couple of bezoar
-stones, formerly much esteemed as possessing occult medical virtues,
-particularly as an antidote to poison. The genuine bezoar stone is a
-calculus found in the stomach of the goat or antelope. The specimens
-here shown are artificial, being compounded from a recipe in the
-possession of Sir Hans Sloane. They claim, however, to have all the
-virtues of the genuine article, which we think extremely probable! They
-have a peculiar aromatic smell, which probably assisted the belief in
-their hygienic properties.
-
-In another of the cases we find post-mortem casts of the faces of
-Charles II. and Oliver Cromwell. A third, anonymous when acquired by
-the Museum, has since been identified as that of Charles XII., king of
-Sweden. The musket-wound in the temple, by which he fell, is plainly
-observable. Not far distant are a leathern ‘black-jack’ and a couple
-of ‘chopines,’ the latter, however, not being, as French scholars
-might be inclined to suppose, the measure of that name, but a sort of
-stilt about sixteen inches in height, with a shoe at the upper end,
-and formerly worn by the Venetian ladies. Shakspeare alludes to this
-queer article where he makes Hamlet say, addressing one of the female
-players, ‘By’r Lady, your ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw
-you last, by the altitude of a chopine.’ Here, too, are a couple of
-the mallets and a ball used in the old game of pall-mall. The present
-specimens were found in the house of Mr Vulliamy, situated in the
-street of the same name, which adjoins the ancient Mall. The ball is of
-wood, about two and a half inches in diameter; and the mallets, save
-that their heads are bound with iron, are almost precisely similar to
-those used in croquet at the present day.
-
-There are sundry curious ivories, among them being a drinking-horn made
-out of a single tusk, elaborately carved, and mounted with copper-gilt.
-It bears the inscription:
-
- Drinke you this, and thinke no scorne
- Although the cup be much like a horne.
-
-It bears the date 1599, and is in general appearance like a fish, with
-a sort of scoop, or spoon-bowl, projecting from the mouth. There are
-indications that it was originally fashioned as a horn for blowing, but
-was afterwards converted to its present purpose. A small tablet of the
-same material represents ‘Orator’ Henley preaching. On the floor in the
-centre of the building, presumably Henley’s chapel in Lincoln’s Inn
-Fields, is seen an inscription indicating that the notorious Colonel
-Charteris lies buried there. Immediately in front of the preacher
-stands a bear on his hind-legs, holding a staff; and the congregation
-are represented with horns, exaggerated noses, heads of animals, and
-other deformities. The preacher appears to be uttering the words, ‘Let
-those not calumniate who cannot confute.’
-
-In another part of the room is a choice collection of ancient watches,
-pocket dials, and timepieces of various descriptions, some of very
-eccentric character. There are oval watches, octagon watches, and
-cruciform watches; watches in the form of tulips and other flowers.
-There is a dial in the form of a star, and another in the shape of
-a lute. A gilt clock, of considerable size, in the form of a ship,
-with elaborate mechanical movements, is said to have been made for
-the Emperor Rudolf II. A pocket dial shown has a special interest, as
-having belonged to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, some time favourite
-of Queen Elizabeth. This dial bears the arms of the ill-fated earl,
-together with an inscription showing that it was made by one James
-Kynvyn, in 1593.
-
-Astrolabes, nocturnals, and other astronomical instruments, English
-and foreign, are largely represented. There are ancient chess and
-backgammon boards, with men carved or stamped in divers quaint
-fashions; and a number of drinking-cups in bronze, rock-crystal, and
-silver, among those of the last material being a small goblet of
-graceful fashion long known as the ‘Cellini’ cup, but believed to be
-in truth of German workmanship. An elegant tazza of rock-crystal,
-mounted with silver-gilt, has a medallion portrait of Queen Elizabeth
-in its centre; but whether it actually belonged to the Virgin Queen is
-uncertain.
-
-The connoisseur in enamels will here find a large and varied
-collection, ranging from the _cloisonné_ of the Byzantine to the _champ
-levé_ of the early Limoges school, and the surface-painting of later
-artists. Some of the specimens shown are extremely beautiful; indeed,
-this collection alone would well repay the trouble of a visit. One of
-the earlier specimens, a plate of German enamel, represents Henry of
-Blois, Bishop of Winchester, and brother to King Stephen. Among the
-more curious specimens of this ancient art are sundry bishops’ crosiers
-of various dates, and a couple of ‘pricket’ candlesticks, in which the
-candle, instead of being dropped into a socket in the modern manner, is
-impaled upon an upright point.
-
-A small _pietà_ of the sixteenth century, placed in one corner of the
-room, deserves a special mention. The figures are in wax, skilfully
-draped with real silk and lace. Such a combination has usually a tawdry
-appearance, but it has no such effect in this instance. The name of
-the modeller has not been handed down to us, but he was unquestionably
-a true artist. The look of death on the Saviour’s face, and the
-heart-broken expression of the Madonna as she bends over to kiss
-his blood-stained brow, are almost painfully real. The power of the
-representation is the more remarkable from its small size, the whole
-group being only about eight inches square.
-
-In a collection numbering many hundreds of items, it is obviously
-impossible even to mention more than a very small proportion of the
-whole. We have spoken more particularly of such as have some personal
-or historical association connected with them; but on the score of
-antiquity alone, such a collection as this must be full of interest
-to thoughtful minds. Who can gaze upon these relics of the distant
-past without yearning to look back into the far-off times when all
-these things were new? What would we give to see, ‘in their habit
-as they lived,’ the men who fashioned these ancient timepieces, who
-drank from these crystal cups, and played tric-trac on these quaint
-backgammon boards? It needs but small imagination to call up Burns and
-his boon-companions carousing around the marble punch-bowl, with ‘just
-a wee drap in their e’e;’ but who shall name the knights who wore this
-iron gauntlet or that _repoussé_ breastplate? Their ‘bones are dust,
-their good swords rust,’ and yet here is part of their ancient panoply,
-well-nigh as perfect as when it left the armourer’s anvil four hundred
-years ago. Truly, they did good work, these mediæval artificers. The
-struggle for existence was not so intense; they did not hurry, as in
-these high-pressure days. Believing, with old George Herbert, that
-‘we do it soon enough, if that we do be well,’ they wisely took their
-time, caring little to do quick work, so long as they did good work.
-And so their handiwork remains, _monumentum ære perennius_, a standing
-memorial of the good old time when ‘art was still religion,’ and labour
-was noble, because the craftsman put his heart into his work.
-
-
-
-
-ONE WOMAN’S HISTORY.
-
-_A NOVELETTE._
-
-BY T. W. SPEIGHT.
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-Five minutes later, Archie Ridsdale burst abruptly into the room.
-‘Here’s a pretty go!’ he exclaimed. ‘Read this, please, dear Madame De
-Vigne,’ putting a telegram into her hand.
-
-Madame De Vigne took it and read: ‘“From Beck and Beck, Bedford Row,
-London.”’
-
-‘The guv’s lawyers,’ explained Archie.
-
-‘“To Archibald Ridsdale, _Palatine Hotel_, Windermere.—We are
-instructed to request you to be at our office at ten A.M. to-morrow, to
-meet Sir William Ridsdale.”’
-
-Mora looked at him as she gave him back the telegram.
-
-‘The last train for town,’ said Archie, ‘leaves in twenty-five minutes.
-My man is cramming a few things into a bag, and I must start for the
-station at once.’
-
-‘Were you not aware that your father had arrived from the continent?’
-
-‘This is the first intimation I’ve had of it. You know how anxiously
-I’ve been expecting an answer to the second letter I wrote him nearly a
-month ago.’
-
-‘It would seem from the telegram that he prefers a personal interview.’
-
-‘I’m glad of it for some things. He has never refused me anything when
-I’ve had the chance of talking to him, and I don’t suppose he will
-refuse what I shall undoubtedly ask him to-morrow.’
-
-Madame De Vigne shook her head. ‘You are far too sanguine. Sir William
-knows already what it is you want him to do. He knew it before,
-when—when’——
-
-‘When he sent Colonel Woodruffe as his plenipo. to negotiate terms with
-the enemy—meaning you,’ said Archie, with a laugh. ‘A pretty ambassador
-the colonel made!’
-
-Madame De Vigne, who had risen and was gazing out of the window again,
-did not answer for a little while. At length she said: ‘Archie, while
-there is yet time, before you see your father to-morrow, I beg of you
-once more seriously to consider the position in which you will place
-yourself by refusing to break off your engagement with my sister. That
-Sir William will sanction your marriage with Clarice, I do not for one
-moment believe. What father in his position would?’
-
-Archie, when he burst into the room, had omitted to close the door
-behind him. It was now pushed a little further open, and, unperceived
-by either of the others, Clarice, dressed for walking, stepped into the
-room.
-
-‘Naturally, he must have far higher, far more ambitious views for his
-only son,’ continued Madame De Vigne. ‘As the world goes, he would be
-greatly to blame if he had not. So, Archie,’ she said, as she took both
-his hands in hers, ‘when you leave us to-night, I wish you clearly
-to understand that you go away unfettered by a tie or engagement of
-any kind. You go away as free and untrammelled as you were that sunny
-afternoon when you first set eyes on my sister. I speak both for
-Clarice and myself.’
-
-Here Clarice came quickly forward. ‘Yes—yes, dear Archie, that is so,’
-she exclaimed. ‘You are free from this hour. I—I shall never cease to
-think of you, but that won’t matter to any one but myself.’
-
-‘Upon my word, I’m very much obliged to both of you,’ answered Archie,
-who was now holding a hand of each. ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or
-be angry. A nice, low, mean opinion you must have formed of Archie
-Ridsdale, if you think he’s the sort of fellow to act in the way you
-suggest.’ Then turning to Clarice, he said: ‘Darling, when you first
-told me that you loved me, you believed me to be a poor man—poor in
-pocket and poor in prospects. That made no difference in your feelings
-towards me. There was then no question of a rich father coming between
-us—and I vow that neither he nor any one else in the world _shall_ come
-between us! I love and honour my father as much as any son can do; but
-this is one of those supreme questions which each man must decide for
-himself.’
-
-‘I have said my say—the raven has croaked its croak,’ said Madame De
-Vigne with a little shrug, as she crossed to the other side of the
-room. ‘You are a wilful, headstrong boy, and I suppose you must be
-allowed to ruin yourself in your own way.’
-
-‘Ruin, indeed!’ exclaimed Archie as he drew Clarice to him. ‘I don’t
-in the least care who looks upon me as a ruin, so long as this sweet
-flower clings to me and twines its tendrils round my heart!’ And with
-that he stooped and kissed the fair young face that was gazing so
-lovingly into his own.
-
-‘Ah—boys and girls—girls and boys—you are the same all the world over,’
-said Madame De Vigne with a sigh.
-
-‘And you won’t be able to go to the picnic to-morrow,’ remarked Clarice
-plaintively.
-
-Nanette appeared. ‘The carriage is at the door, sir. The driver says he
-has only just time to catch the train.’
-
-‘I’m going to the station, dear, to see Archie off,’ said Clarice to
-her sister.
-
-‘Good-bye—for a little while,’ said Archie, as he took Madame De
-Vigne’s hand. ‘The moment I have any news, you shall hear from me; and
-in any case, you will see me back before we are many days older.’
-
-‘Good-bye—and good-bye. Above all things, don’t forget the love and
-obedience you owe your father, and remember—the moment you choose to
-claim your freedom, it is yours.’
-
-‘Ah, dear Madame De Vigne’——
-
-She interrupted him with a slight gesture of her hand. ‘Do not think me
-hard—do not think me unkind. I have to remember that I am this girl’s
-sister and mother in one.’
-
-‘But’——
-
-‘Not another word.’ She took his head in both her hands and drew it
-towards her, and kissed him on the forehead. ‘Bon voyage! Dieu vous
-protège. The prayers of two women will go with you.’
-
-There was a tear in Archie’s eye as he turned away. Nanette was
-standing by the open door. A moment later, and the young people were
-gone.
-
-Madame De Vigne stepped out into the veranda and waved her handkerchief
-as the carriage drove off.
-
-‘He will marry her whether Sir William gives his consent or not,’ she
-mused. ‘He is in youth’s glad spring-tide, when the world is full of
-sunshine, and the dragons that beset the ways of life seem put there
-only to be fought and overcome. Well—let me but see my darling’s
-happiness assured, and I think that I can bear without murmuring
-whatever Fate may have in store for myself.’ She stepped back into
-the room, and as she did so, Nanette opened the door once more and
-announced—‘Colonel Woodruffe.’
-
-A slight tremor shook Madame De Vigne from head to foot. She drew a
-long breath, and advanced a step or two to meet the colonel as he
-entered the room.
-
-‘I told you that I should come,’ said Colonel Woodruffe, with a rich
-glow on his face as he went forward and held out his hand.
-
-‘And you are here,’ answered Madame De Vigne, who had suddenly turned
-very pale.
-
-‘Did you not expect me?’
-
-‘Yes,’ she answered, as for a moment she looked him full in the eyes.
-
-She sat down on an ottoman, and the colonel drew up a chair a little
-distance away. He was a tall, well-built, soldier-like man, some
-thirty-eight or forty years old.
-
-‘You know the purpose that has brought me?’ he asked.
-
-‘I have not forgotten.’
-
-‘Two months ago I had the temerity to ask you a certain question. I,
-who had come to judge you, if needs were to condemn, had ended by
-losing my heart to the only woman I had ever met who had power to
-drag it out of my own safe keeping. You rejected my suit. I left you.
-Time went on, but I found it impossible to forget you. At length I
-determined again to put my fortune to the proof. It was a forlorn hope,
-but I am an old soldier, and I would not despair. Once more I told you
-all that I had told you before; once more I put the same question to
-you. This time you did not say No, but neither did you say Yes. To-day
-I have come for your answer.’ He drew his chair a little closer and
-took one of her hands. ‘Mora, do not say that your answer to-day will
-be the same as it was before—do not say that you can never learn to
-care for me.’
-
-She had listened with bent head and downcast eyes. She now disengaged
-her hand, rose, crossed to the window, and then came back. She was
-evidently much perturbed. ‘What shall I say? what shall I say?’ she
-asked half aloud.
-
-The colonel overheard her and started to his feet. ‘Let me tell you
-what to say!’ he exclaimed.
-
-She held up her hand. ‘One moment,’ she said. Then she motioned to him
-to be seated, and herself sat down again.
-
-‘Has it never occurred to you,’ she began, ‘to ask yourself how much or
-how little you really know about the woman whom you are so desirous
-of making your wife? Three months ago you had not even learnt my name,
-and now—even now, how much more do you know respecting me and my
-antecedents than you knew the first day you met me?’
-
-‘I know that I love you. I ask to know nothing more.’
-
-‘You would take me upon trust?’
-
-‘Try me.’
-
-She shook her head a little sadly. ‘It is not the way of the world.’
-
-‘This is a matter with which the world has nothing to do.’
-
-‘Colonel Woodruffe—I have a Past.’
-
-‘So have all of us who are no longer boys or girls.’
-
-‘It is only right that you should know the history of that Past.’
-
-‘Such knowledge could in nowise influence me. It is with the present
-and the future only that I have to do.’
-
-‘It is of the future that I am now thinking.’
-
-‘Pardon me if I scarcely follow you.’
-
-‘How shall I express to you what I wish to convey?’ She rose, crossed
-to the table, and taking up a book, began to turn its leaves carelessly
-over, evidently scarcely knowing what she was about. ‘If—if it so
-happened that I were to accede to your wishes,’ she said—‘if, in short,
-I were to become your wife—and at some future time, by some strange
-chance, some incident or fact connected with my past life, of which
-you knew nothing, and of which you had no previous suspicion, were to
-come to your knowledge, would you not have a right to complain that I
-had deceived you? that I had kept silence when I ought to have spoken?
-that—that’——
-
-‘Mora—Mora, if this is all that stands between me and your love—between
-me and happiness, it is nothing—less than nothing! I vow to you’——
-
-‘Stay!’ she said, coming a step or two nearer to him. ‘Do not think
-that I fail to appreciate your generosity or the chivalrous kindness
-which prompts you to speak as you do. But—I am thinking of myself as
-well as of you. If such a thing as I have spoken of were to happen,
-although your affection for me might be in nowise changed thereby,
-with what feelings should I afterwards regard myself? I should despise
-myself, and justly so, to the last day of my life.’
-
-‘No—no! Believe me, you are fighting a shadow that has no substance
-behind it. I tell you again, and I will tell you so a hundred times,
-if need be, that with your Past I have nothing whatever to do. My
-heart tells me in accents not to be mistaken that you are a pure and
-noble-minded woman. What need a man care to know more?’
-
-‘I should fail to be all that you believe me to be, were I not to
-oppose you in this matter even against your own wishes.’
-
-‘Do you not believe in me? Can you not trust me?’
-
-‘Oh, yes—yes! I believe in you, and trust you as only a woman can
-believe and trust. It is the unknown future and what may be hidden
-in it, that I dread.’ She crossed to the chimney-piece, took up the
-letter, gazed at it for a moment, and then went back with it in her
-hand. ‘Since you were here five days ago, I have written this—written
-it for you to read. It is the life-history of a most unhappy woman. It
-is a story that till now has been a secret between the dead and myself.
-But to you it must now be told, because—because—oh! you know why. Take
-it—read it; and if after that you choose to come to me—then’——
-
-Not a word more could she say. She put the letter into his hand, and
-turning abruptly away, crossed to the window, but she saw nothing for
-the blinding mist of tears that filled her eyes.
-
-Colonel Woodruffe, with his gaze fixed on the letter, stood for a
-moment or two turning it over and over in his fingers. Then he crossed
-to the fireplace. In a stand on the chimney-piece were some vesta
-matches. He took one, lighted it, and with it set fire to the letter,
-which he held by one corner till it was consumed. Madame De Vigne had
-turned and was watching him with wide-staring eyes.
-
-‘“Let the dead Past bury its dead,”’ said the colonel gravely, as the
-ashes dropped from his fingers into the grate. ‘Your secret shall
-remain a secret still.’
-
-‘’Tis done! I can struggle no longer,’ said Madame De Vigne to herself.
-
-The colonel crossed to her and took one of her hands. ‘Nothing can come
-between us now,’ he said. ‘Now you are all my own.’
-
-He drew her to him and touched her lips with his. All her face flushed
-rosy red, and into her eyes there sprang a light of love and tenderness
-such as he had never seen in them before. Never had he seen her look
-so beautiful as at that moment. He led her back to the ottoman and sat
-down beside her.
-
-‘Tell me, dearest,’ he said, ‘am I the same man who came into this room
-a quarter of an hour ago—doubting, fearing, almost despairing?’
-
-‘Yes, the same.’
-
-‘I began to be afraid that I had been changed into somebody else. Well,
-now that the skirmish is over, now that the fortress has capitulated,
-suppose we settle the terms of victory. How soon are we to be married?’
-
-‘Married! You take my breath away. You might be one of those
-freebooters of the middle ages who used to hang their prisoners the
-moment they caught them.’
-
-‘We are prepared to grant the prisoner a reasonable time to make her
-peace with the world.’
-
-Madame De Vigne laid a hand gently on his sleeve. ‘Dear friend, let us
-talk of this another time,’ she said.
-
-‘Another time then let it be,’ he answered as he lifted her hand to his
-lips. ‘Meanwhile’——
-
-‘Yes, meanwhile?’
-
-‘I may as well proceed to give you a few lessons in the art of making
-love.’
-
-‘It may be that the pupil knows as much of such matters as her teacher.’
-
-‘That has to be proved. You shall have your first lesson to-morrow.’
-
-‘Merci, monsieur.’
-
-‘By Jove! talking about to-morrow reminds me of something I had nearly
-forgotten.’ He started to his feet and pulled out his watch. ‘Now that
-you have made me the happiest fellow in England, I must leave you for a
-little while.’
-
-‘Leave me?’ she exclaimed as she rose to her feet.
-
-‘Only for a few hours. On my arrival here I found a telegram from my
-brother. He has been staying at Derwent Hall, near Grasmere. To-morrow
-he starts for Ireland. We have some family matters to arrange. If I
-don’t see him to-night, we may not meet again for months. I’m sorry at
-having to go, but you won’t mind my leaving you till to-morrow?’
-
-‘Can you ask? Do you know, I’m rather glad you are going.’
-
-‘Why glad?’
-
-‘Because it will give me time to think over all that has happened this
-evening. I—I feel as if I want to be alone. You are not a woman, and
-can’t understand such things.’
-
-Again his arm stole round her waist. The clock on the mantel-piece
-struck the hour. Mora disengaged herself. ‘Twilight seems to have come
-all at once,’ she said. ‘You will have a dark drive. It is time for you
-to go.’
-
-‘More’s the pity.’
-
-‘To-morrow will soon be here; which reminds me that we have arranged
-for a picnic to-morrow at High Ghyll Force.’
-
-‘You will be there?’
-
-‘Clarice and Miss Gaisford have induced me to promise.’
-
-‘If I should happen to drive round that way on my return, should I be
-looked upon as an intruder?’
-
-‘As if you didn’t know differently from that!’
-
-‘Then possibly you may see me.’
-
-‘I shall expect you without fail.’
-
-‘In that case I will not fail.—My driver will be wondering what has
-become of me.’
-
-‘Good-night,’ said Mora impulsively.
-
-‘Harold,’ he said softly.
-
-‘Harold—dear Harold!’ she answered.
-
-‘My name never sounded so sweet before,’ exclaimed the colonel as, with
-a parting embrace, the gallant wooer quitted the apartment.
-
-‘Heaven bless you, my dearest one!’ she murmured as the door closed.
-Then she sank on to a seat and wept silently to herself for several
-minutes. After a time she proceeded to dry her eyes. ‘What bundles of
-contradictions we women are! We cry when we are in trouble, and we cry
-when we are glad.’
-
-Nanette came in, carrying a lighted lamp. She was about to close the
-windows and draw the curtains, but her mistress stopped her. After the
-hot day, the evening seemed too fresh and beautiful to be shut out.
-Nanette turned down the flame of the lamp till it seemed little more
-than a glowworm in the dusk, and then left the room.
-
-‘How lonely I feel, now that he has gone,’ said Mora; ‘but to-morrow
-will bring him again—to-morrow!’
-
-She crossed to the piano and struck a few notes in a minor key. Then
-she rose and went to the window. ‘Music has no charms for me to-night,’
-she said. ‘I cannot read—I cannot work—I cannot do anything. What
-strange restlessness is this that possesses me?’ There was a canary in
-a cage hanging near the window. It chirruped to her as if wishful of
-being noticed. ‘Ah, my pretty Dick,’ she said, ‘you are always happy so
-long as you have plenty of seed and water. I can whisper my secret to
-you, and you will never tell it again, will you? Dick—he loves me—he
-loves me—he loves me! And I love him, oh, so dearly, Dick!’
-
-She went back to the piano and played a few bars; but being still beset
-by the same feeling of restlessness, she presently found her way again
-to the window. On the lawn outside, the dusk was deepening. The trees
-stood out massive and solemn against the evening sky, but the more
-distant features of the landscape were lost in obscurity. How lonely
-it seemed! There was not a sound anywhere. Doubtless, several windows
-of the hotel were lighted up, but from where Mora was standing they
-were not visible. Dinner was still in progress; as soon as it should
-be over, the lawn would become alive with figures, idling, flirting,
-smoking, seated under the trees, or promenading slowly to and fro.
-At present, however, the lady had the whole solemn, lovely scene to
-herself.
-
-She stood gazing out of the window for some minutes without moving,
-looking in her white dress in the evening dusk like a statue chiselled
-out of snowy marble.
-
-‘My heart ought to beat with happiness,’ she inwardly communed; ‘but it
-is filled with a vague dread of something—I know not what—a fear that
-has no name. Yet what have I to fear? Nothing—nothing! My secret is
-still my own, and the grave tells no tales.’
-
-Suddenly a breath of air swept up from the lake and shook the curtains.
-She looked round the dim room with a shudder. The tiny tongue of flame
-from the lamp only served, as it were, to make darkness visible. She
-made a step forward, and then drew back. The room seemed full of
-weird shadows. Was there not something in that corner? It was like a
-crouching figure, all in black, waiting to spring upon her! And that
-curtain—it seemed as if grasped by a hidden hand! What if some one were
-hiding there!
-
-She sank into the nearest chair and pressed her fingers to her eyes.
-‘No—no—no!’ she murmured. ‘These are only my own foolish imaginings. O
-Harold, Harold! why did you leave me?’
-
-Next moment the silence was broken by the faint, far-away sound of a
-horn, playing a slow, sweet air. Mora lifted her head and listened.
-
-‘Music on the lake. How sweet it sounds. It has broken the spell that
-held me. It seems like the voice of a friend calling through the
-darkness. I will walk down to the edge of the water. The cool air from
-the hills will do me good.’
-
-There was a black lace scarf hanging over the arm of a couch; she took
-it up and draped it over her head and round her throat and shoulders.
-Her foot was on the threshold, she was in the act of stepping out into
-the veranda, when she heard a voice outside speaking to some other
-person. The instant she heard it she shrank back as though petrified
-with horror.
-
-‘That voice! Can the grave give up its dead?’ she whispered as though
-she were asking the question of some one.
-
-Next moment the figures of two men, one walking a little way behind
-the other, became distinctly outlined against the evening sky as they
-advanced up the sloping pathway from the lake. The first of the two men
-was smoking, the second was carrying some articles of luggage.
-
-The first man came to a halt nearly opposite the windows of Madame
-de Vigne’s sitting-room. Turning to the second man, he said, with a
-pronounced French accent: ‘Take my luggage into the hotel. I will stay
-here a little while and smoke.’
-
-The second man passed forward out of sight. The first man, still
-standing on the same spot, took out another cigar, struck a match,
-and proceeded to light it. For a moment by the light of the match his
-features were plainly visible; next moment all was darkness again.
-
-But Madame De Vigne, crouching behind the curtains of the dimly lighted
-room, had seen enough to cause her heart to die within her.
-
-‘The grave _has_ given up its dead! It is he!’ her blanched lips
-murmured.
-
-Some minutes later, Clarice Loraine, on going into the sitting-room,
-found her sister on the floor in a dead faint.
-
-
-
-
-AN EDUCATIONAL PIONEER.
-
-
-It would be difficult to find a more unique or more interesting
-educational body than the so-called Brothers of the Christian Schools.
-Founded some two hundred years ago by the venerable John Baptist de la
-Salle, on lines which the best schools of to-day have not hesitated
-to adopt, the influence of this Institute has spread over all the
-civilised, and even to some regions of the uncivilised world. Its
-extension to Great Britain is but of recent date, and only seven
-schools have as yet been inaugurated. The thoroughness and practical
-value of the instruction given are mainly due to a strict adherence to
-the ‘object’ lesson principle.
-
-Hitherto, we have been accustomed to associate this with the
-Kindergarten ideas of Pestalozzi and Froebel; but although their
-efforts to lighten the intellectual labours of the young were mainly
-instrumental in bringing ‘playwork’ to its present perfection,
-recent researches have shown that the venerable Dr de la Salle in
-his educational plan strongly urged that pupils should be taken to
-exhibitions and so forth, where their masters could give practical
-illustrations of special studies. Zoological or botanical gardens
-were in this way to be visited, that the uses and benefits of certain
-animals or plants might be demonstrated; and school museums, herbaria,
-geological, mineralogical, and other collections were afterwards to be
-formed by the pupils themselves. And not only did De la Salle institute
-object-teaching, but he was also the first to introduce class methods.
-Before his time, children were for the most part taught individually,
-or, where this was not so, large numbers were collected in one room,
-each in turn going to the teacher to have separate instruction, whilst
-the others were allowed to remain idle, free to torment one another or
-the little victim at the master’s table. Great care was taken by De la
-Salle in examining and placing the children committed to his care in
-the classes best fitted for them; and the success of his method was
-so great, that the numerous schools opened by the Brothers under his
-direction soon became overcrowded.
-
-His great object was to reach the poor, and to train them to a
-knowledge of a holy life and an independent livelihood. The opposition
-he met with was at times very great. The ire of professional
-writing-masters was first aroused; the poor had necessarily been
-debarred from learning to write, because only the well-to-do could
-afford the stipulated fees, and writing-masters were therefore employed
-to do all the correspondence of those who could not write. So, when De
-la Salle undertook to teach every child who came to him what had been
-in some senses a secret art, their fury vented itself in an opposition
-so overpowering that they drove the Brothers from their schools in
-Paris and threw their furniture into the streets. The opposition was
-only temporary, however; and as time passed, fresh schools were opened,
-not only in France and her colonies, but in every European country, and
-many parts of America, as well as in one or two districts of Asia and
-Africa.
-
-The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, though
-nominally Roman Catholic, is truly catholic in its widest sense, for,
-besides admitting children of every religious denomination, secular
-learning is admirably provided for. Their greatest successes have
-perhaps been achieved in the art of writing and drawing, as applied
-to all technical industries and art products. One illustration of the
-results of their method of teaching writing in a remote region where
-the pupils are not the easiest to train, may be cited as an example.
-When the treaty of commerce between France and Madagascar in 1868 was
-about to be signed, Queen Ranavalona was much struck by the beautiful
-caligraphy of the copy presented to her by the Chancellor of the French
-Consulate, and she determined that hers should not be inferior. The
-pupils in all the chief schools in the island furnished examples of
-handwriting to the queen’s prime-minister, but without satisfying her
-taste. At last, an officer who had seen the Brothers’ schools suggested
-that one of their pupils should compete. A young boy, Marc Rabily-Kely,
-sent in some beautiful specimens of different styles of writing; and
-the copying of the treaty was at once intrusted to him. When the two
-copies were presented side by side, a murmur of applause went round
-at the sight of Queen Ranavalona’s copy, and all cried out: ‘Resy ny
-vasoha’ (The whites are beaten). This is only one instance among many,
-and shows how much can be done by systematic training in the art of
-writing, a subject much neglected in the majority of schools.
-
-But De la Salle did not stop short at educating the poor; he was
-the first to found training colleges for masters, and the first to
-institute regular boarding-schools in which everything relating to
-commerce, finance, military engineering, architecture, and mathematics
-was taught, and in which trades could be learned. Besides these, he
-founded an institution in which agriculture was taught as a science.
-At St Yon, where the first agricultural school was started, a large
-garden was devoted to the culture of specimens of fodder-plants,
-injurious plants, grain, plants peculiar to certain soils, fruits and
-flowers. The students of to-day study all this, and in addition to
-working on model farms, visit all the best farms around, are sent with
-special professors to attend certain markets and sales of live-stock,
-and have special field-days for practically studying botany, geology,
-and entomology. The innovations introduced by De la Salle extended
-to other matters than practical education. Before French boys in his
-day were allowed to study their own language, they were obliged to
-learn to read Latin, and thus years were sometimes spent in acquiring
-a certain facility in reading a language they never understood. De la
-Salle changed all this, in spite of repeated opposition, and succeeded
-in making the vernacular tongue the basis of their teaching instead of
-Latin. Owing to this change, the poor scholars progressed much more
-rapidly than those in other schools, and the Brothers’ Institutes were
-soon far ahead of all the elementary schools of their day. The way in
-which they have held their position even till to-day is shown by the
-results of the public examinations in Paris during the last thirty-five
-years. Out of sixteen hundred and thirty-five scholarships offered
-during this time, pupils of these schools have obtained thirteen
-hundred and sixteen. This in itself is an enormous proportion; but
-it is even greater than it appears, when we consider that seculars
-had more schools, fewer pupils per teacher, and thus a better chance
-to advance the individual scholar, and as a rule, a richer class of
-scholars to select from. These scholarship examinations have recently
-been discontinued, though not until after the Brothers’ pupils were
-excluded from competition in consequence of the so-called ‘laicisation’
-of schools in 1880, after which the Brothers of Paris gave up their
-government schools and opened voluntary ones.
-
-The whole educational scheme of De la Salle was admirably complete;
-but perhaps the most interesting feature of the whole—now that we
-are familiarised with his systems for teaching special subjects by
-their spread in their original or a modified form to most European
-countries—was his very simple plan for enforcing discipline. He was
-always loath to believe unfavourable accounts of any pupil, and in
-the first place took pains to discover whether the failings were the
-result of the misdirection of those in authority or of the pupil’s
-own wilfulness. When there was evidently a necessity for punishment,
-the culprit was put in a quiet and fairly comfortable cell. Once shut
-in alone, his notice was attracted to stands obviously intended for
-flowers, to empty cages and other things which reminded the little
-prisoner that there were good and beautiful enjoyments for those who
-deserved them. One of the first questions the boys generally asked
-was why there were nails for pictures, cages for birds, &c., and yet
-neither pictures nor birds. In answer, they were told that as they
-improved they would be supplied with all these good things; that if
-they left off using profane or bad language, a bird would be put in the
-cage; that as soon as they became industrious and worked well, their
-prison vases would be adorned with flowers; that when they acknowledged
-their previous wrong-doing, pleasant pictures would be hung on the
-panels; that when their repentance was seen to be sincere, they would
-rejoin their schoolfellows; and that in time they would be allowed to
-go back to their families.
-
-The system worked so well, and is still found to succeed so thoroughly,
-that it is almost a wonder it has not become more general. It has
-certainly many advantages over the plan of giving boys so many hundred
-lines to write, which is a mere task, soon forgotten, and benefiting
-no one. But as there are only seven schools, and those of very recent
-foundation, in England, we may perhaps still have to wait before
-hearing that this discipline is at all general. In the meantime, all
-interested in the training of the young might derive valuable hints
-from studying this and other methods initiated by the pioneer of
-popular education not only in France, but in all Europe.
-
-
-
-
-THE MISSING CLUE.
-
-A TALE OF THE FENS.
-
-
-CHAPTER I.—THE ARRIVAL AT THE ‘SAXONFORD ARMS.’
-
-If any misanthropic subject of His Most Gracious Majesty King George
-II. had wished to withdraw himself from the bustle of public life and
-turn recluse in real good earnest, he could scarcely have chosen a
-district more likely to suit his retiring taste than the country in the
-vicinity of Saxonford. Scarcely aspiring to the dignity of a village,
-the place so named was merely a cluster of cottages formed upon the
-edge of a rough highway leading apparently to nowhere. In ancient
-times this spot had been of somewhat more importance, for it was here
-that a religious house of no inconsiderable size had flourished. But
-those days had long passed away; and in 1745 the only remnant of the
-monastery which survived the depredations committed by man and the
-all-effacing hand of Time was a gray skeleton tower, a silent witness
-to its departed conventual magnificence. Being erected, as was usually
-the case with fen settlements, upon a rise of comparatively high land,
-the remains commanded a view of an almost unbroken horizon. Standing
-at some distance from the hamlet which had arisen round the monastic
-ruin was a quaint dilapidated structure, known to the scattered natives
-of those parts as the _Saxonford Arms_. Whatever might have been the
-causes that induced the architect to build such an inn—for it was
-by no means a small one—in so lonely a part, must remain a matter
-of conjecture. A visitor was almost unknown at the old inn. There
-it stood, weather-beaten and time-worn as the gray old tower which
-overlooked it, and much more likely to tumble down, if the truth be
-told.
-
-At the time we speak of, the scene appeared unusually calm and
-beautiful, for the day was drawing to an end, and it was close upon
-sunset, a period which is seldom seen to so much advantage as in the
-low-lying districts of the fens. The weather had been unusually hot,
-and the sinking sun shed a warm glow over a tract of well-browned
-country, making its rich hues seem richer still. In the glassy water of
-the river, the vivid sky was reflected as in a mirror, while the tall
-tops of the sedge-rushes that bordered it were scarcely stirred by a
-breath of air. A rotten timber bridge, which might have been erected in
-the time of Hereward, spanned the stream at a short distance from the
-old inn; crossing this, the road dipped down and led the way between
-patches of black peat, cultivated land, and unreclaimed watery morass,
-straight towards the south.
-
-A small party of strong sunburnt fen labourers were seated on the rough
-benches in front of mine host’s ancient house of entertainment, some of
-them swarthy, black-bearded men, others with light tawny hair and blue
-eyes. True types of the hardy race were they; their strong, uncovered
-brown arms, which had all day long been working under a baking sun,
-upon a shadeless flat, telling a tale of sinewy power that came not a
-jot under the renowned strength of their mighty ancestors. Mine host
-himself, a ruddy-faced man of middle age, was there too, smoking a long
-well-coloured pipe, and gazing in a thoughtful way across the long
-stretch of fen, over which the shades of night were steadily creeping.
-
-‘What be ye gaping at, master?’ quoth one of the brawny labourers, as
-the landlord shaded his eyes with his hand and endeavoured to make out
-some indistinct object.
-
-‘What’re ye looking after, Hobb?’ asked another one in a bantering
-tone. ‘Can’t ye believe your own eyes, man?’
-
-‘Nay, Swenson, I can’t,’ returned mine host, lowering his hand and
-turning to the person who addressed him. ‘I want a good pair sadly.’
-
-‘You’re like to get ’em staring over the fen in that way, my boy!’
-remarked Swenson with a hoarse laugh.
-
-‘Lend me your eyes here, Harold,’ went on the innkeeper. ‘Take a squint
-across that bank and tell me what you see.’
-
-‘What be the good o’ askin’ me?’ returned the man. ‘I can’t tell a
-barn-door from a peat-stack at fifty yards’ distance.’
-
-‘I’ll tell ye, Dipping,’ cried a young sunburnt giant, starting up from
-the bench on which he had been sitting. ‘Where is’t?’
-
-‘You see yon tall willow?’
-
-‘Him as sticks up there by the dike?’
-
-‘Ay. Look out there to the left o’ it, across the fen, and tell me what
-ye see.’
-
-The fellow’s blue eyes were directed with an earnest gaze towards the
-distant spot which the landlord pointed out; and then he turned sharply
-round and exclaimed: ‘It be two horsemen.’
-
-‘Are ye sure?’ asked mine host, as he bent his brows and vainly tried
-to make out the far-off speck.
-
-‘Quite sure,’ was the reply. ‘They’re coming up the road by the old
-North Lode.—There; now they’re passing One Man’s Mill.’
-
-‘I see ’em!’ exclaimed Swenson, pointing towards a solitary windmill,
-the jagged sails of which formed a slight break in the long line of
-misty flatness.
-
-‘Perchance they be travellers, and will want beds for the night,’ said
-mine host, roused to action by the mere possibility of such an event
-occurring. ‘I will see that the place is got ready for them.’
-
-‘Hobb Dipping is soon counting his chickens,’ remarked one of the
-uncouth fenmen, laughing, as the landlord of the _Saxonford Arms_
-disappeared.
-
-‘Ay, it’s like him all over,’ rejoined Swenson, while he gathered up
-some implements and prepared to go.—‘Are ye coming with me, Harold?’
-
-‘No, my boy; I’m agoing to stop and see who yon horsemen may be. News
-are scarce in these parts. If you’re off now, why, good-night to ye.’
-
-Swenson nods, bids the man good-night, and then strides off in the
-direction of the old gray tower. The major part of the loiterers go
-with him; but three or four still linger, looking along the misty road,
-and waiting as if in expectation of something.
-
-A light up in one of the windows of the inn tells that Hobb Dipping
-is preparing his best room for the reception of the approaching
-travellers, in case it should be needed; and a savoury smell of hot
-meat which issues forth through the open doorway of the hostel makes
-the few hungry watchers that remain feel inclined to seek their own
-supper-tables. At length mine host has finished his task, and the most
-presentable apartment that the house contains is ready for instant
-occupation if necessary. Honest Hobb Dipping gazes wistfully out of a
-rickety diamond-paned window, and thinks that his labour must have been
-in vain. The moon is rising from the shadow of a thick bank of vapour,
-its dim red outline as yet but faintly seen through the misty cloud.
-It is getting late; the travellers must have passed by the bridge, and
-ridden along the flood-bank. ‘If they know not the way well,’ mutters
-Dipping to himself, ‘they’ll lose themselves in the fen for certain. An
-awkward path that be, specially binight, with a damp fog rising.’
-
-At this moment, a clatter of horses’ hoofs breaks the silence, and
-two horsemen canter over the shaky timber bridge and draw up in front
-of the old inn. Mine host bustles about shouting a number of confused
-directions; the one youthful domestic which the place boasts of running
-helplessly to and fro and doing nothing. The foremost rider, suddenly
-leaping from his horse, strides into the inn, and flings himself into a
-chair, ordering a private room and supper to be made ready at once.
-
-Honest Dipping hurries about, unused to strangers of distinction,
-bringing in liquor and glasses, meat, platters and knives, besides a
-quantity of other things that are not wanted, the stranger meanwhile
-having taken possession of the room up-stairs which had been hurriedly
-prepared for him.
-
-Presently follows the gentleman’s servant, a short muscular fellow,
-with a sullen, lowering countenance; and a short conversation takes
-place between the man and his master.
-
-‘Are the horses put up, Derrick?’
-
-‘Yes, sir.’
-
-‘And the pistols?’
-
-‘Here they are, Sir Carnaby.’
-
-‘Loaded, of course?’
-
-‘Ay, sir, both of them.’
-
-‘Right! Now, what think you of this part? Is it not quiet enough for
-us? I never was in such a dead-alive wilderness before; and taking that
-into consideration, I fancy it is possible to last out a few days even
-in this ghastly shanty. After that, I shall ride to Lynn and take ship,
-for, as I live, the country is getting too hot to hold me.’
-
-Derrick gave vent to a sound resembling a grunt, and muttered a few
-words containing seemingly some disparaging reference to the ‘king over
-the water.’
-
-‘Hush, you fool!’ exclaimed his master in a low whisper; ‘you should
-know better than to speak of what does not concern you. Be wise, and
-hold your tongue.’
-
-‘Your pardon, Sir Carnaby,’ replied Derrick; ‘it shall not be spoken of
-again.’
-
-‘And mind, Derrick, in case we should be inquired after, let the rustic
-boors know that I am Mr Morton, a landowner from somewhere or other.
-You, Derrick, are John Jones; so mind and answer to your name. D’ye
-hear?’
-
-The attendant’s face relaxed into a sly grin as he answered: ‘I hear,
-sir.’
-
-The truth is, Mr Morton—or to call him by his proper name, Sir
-Carnaby Vincent—was a young baronet of good family, and reputed to
-be enormously rich. In consequence of his being mixed up in some
-disturbances occasioned by the Jacobite party, he had found it
-necessary, at a previous period, to avoid the cognisance of the
-authorities. But a certain nobleman having interested himself in
-the youthful plotter’s behalf, the affair was hushed up, and Sir
-Carnaby returned to society once more. Having a relish for all kinds
-of intrigue, besides being of too excitable a temperament to exist
-long in a state of quiet, the madcap young fellow again entered heart
-and soul into the intrigues of Prince Charles’ followers, and this
-time succeeded only too well in attracting notice. A warrant was
-issued for his apprehension; and Sir Carnaby once more had to seek
-safety in flight, taking with him a quantity of valuable papers, and
-the blessings of all his companions engaged in the perilous cause.
-He was accompanied by only one person, his servant Derrick, a rough
-but doggedly faithful retainer, who had followed the fortunes of his
-house for nearly thirty years. Derrick himself cared not a jot for the
-Jacobite party to which Sir Carnaby was so attached; his first thought
-was to follow his master, and share the dangers which he might have
-to encounter. Their retreat from the metropolis was safely effected,
-much to the satisfaction of the baronet, who was really seriously
-alarmed at this second unlucky discovery. From London they journeyed
-through Cambridgeshire, Sir Carnaby’s plan being to lie quiet for a
-few days in the heart of the fens, then afterwards proceeding to some
-obscure seaport on the borders of the Wash, to take sail for a foreign
-land, where he could best forward the fortunes both of himself and his
-hapless Prince.
-
-
-CHAPTER II.—THE JACOBITE.
-
-‘Where did you place the saddle-bags, Derrick?’ asked Sir Carnaby, when
-Hobb Dipping had quitted the old wainscoted apartment in which his
-distinguished visitor was about to partake of supper.
-
-Speech was a gift which nature had bestowed very sparingly upon the
-attendant; moreover, he was possessed of a rough, unmelodious voice.
-Pointing towards a chair in one corner, he slowly ejaculated: ‘There,
-sir—underneath.’
-
-‘Good!’ said Sir Carnaby, seating himself at the table.—‘By the way,
-Derrick, I think it would be just as well to look after the innkeeper:
-his glances are a trifle too curious to please me. When I have finished
-my supper, you had better descend into the public room and try to
-ascertain his opinion of us.’
-
-‘Right, sir,’ replied the attendant.
-
-‘Come from behind my chair, you varlet,’ said the baronet, motioning
-him at the same time with his hand. ‘Draw up to the table and break
-your fast with me; we shall gain time by so doing.’
-
-Derrick sat down respectfully at the farther end of the board, and
-gazed in a thoughtful way at a dark patch of sky which could be seen
-through the diamond-shaped panes of glass in a window opposite him.
-
-‘You seem in no hurry to refresh the inner man,’ remarked Sir Carnaby.
-‘What are you thinking of, Derrick?’
-
-‘A dream, sir.’
-
-‘A what?’
-
-‘A dream, sir,’ repeated Derrick—‘one I had last night.’
-
-‘Well, as your mind appears to be somewhat uneasy,’ remarked Sir
-Carnaby, with a slight smile playing over his features, ‘I should
-recommend open confession as being the proper thing to relieve it.’
-
-‘There’s little enough to tell, sir,’ said Derrick; ‘’twas only a bit
-of dark sky up there that brought it back to me.’
-
-‘Well,’ said Sir Carnaby simply.
-
-‘It seemed to me,’ continued the attendant, ‘as if I was riding alone,
-holding your horse by the bridle. The moon was up, and the sky looked
-the same as it does out there. I can remember now quite plain that I
-felt kind of troubled, but what about, I know just as little as you,
-sir.’
-
-‘Is that the whole story?’ asked Sir Carnaby with a laugh. ‘Well, I
-can tell you, good Derrick, so far as riding alone goes, your prophecy
-is likely to prove a true one, though I certainly don’t intend you to
-carry off my horse with you.—See here; this is something more important
-than a heavy-headed dream. You must start to-morrow for the Grange. Be
-in the saddle early, and don’t spare your spurs.’
-
-‘Am I to go alone, sir?’
-
-‘Certainly. The journey has no object beyond the delivery of this
-letter; and as inquiry is sure to be pretty rife concerning me, I shall
-stay where I am and await your return.’
-
-Derrick received the sealed envelope which was handed to him with a
-gruff but respectful ‘Right, sir,’ and then relapsed into his customary
-silence.
-
-‘I shall leave it to your discretion to find out the way,’ said Sir
-Carnaby. ‘Of course you will go armed?’
-
-The attendant opened his coat without speaking and touched the hilt of
-a stout hanger which he wore at his side.
-
-Sir Carnaby smiled. ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘you are ready enough to play
-at blood-letting; but that sort of thing is best avoided. Let your
-movements be as quiet and speedy as possible; and when you reach your
-destination, seek out Captain Hollis by means of that address. Give the
-note into his hands, then make haste back. I shall have other work for
-you when you return.’
-
-‘More plots,’ thought Derrick, but he merely uttered a grunt and
-pocketed the letter.
-
-‘This room,’ continued the baronet, ‘seems to be parlour and bedchamber
-in one. So far well. If there should be any occasion to consult me
-again before you start, one rap at this door will be quite sufficient
-to wake me. I am a light sleeper.’
-
-‘Anything more, sir?’
-
-‘Nothing more to-night; you have all my orders for the
-present.—Good-night, Derrick.’
-
-‘Good-night, sir.’
-
-When the last faint clank of Derrick’s boots has ceased to ring upon
-the staircase, Sir Carnaby Vincent rises and locks the door, glancing
-outside first, to see that no one lurks without. This being done, he
-carefully bars the shutters over the window, looks inside two cupboards
-which the room contains, and then having ascertained that he is not
-likely to be overlooked, draws forth the afore-mentioned saddle-bags. A
-strange look of anxiety passes over the fugitive’s face as he plunges
-his hand into one of them, and brings out a small, shallow, oaken box,
-black with age. Its contents are apparently of no little value, for
-the lid is secured by two locks, and a corresponding number of blotchy
-red seals, upon which may be deciphered the impression of a crest. Sir
-Carnaby turns the box over and examines its fastenings, then rises and
-walks slowly round the room, as if in search of something. His manner
-at this moment is most strange, and the light step with which he treads
-over the old flooring does not awaken enough creaking to disturb a
-mouse. Four times round the room he goes, with a curious expression on
-his face which would puzzle even a skilful physiognomist to interpret,
-then stooping down, he places the box on the floor and appears to
-listen.
-
-
-
-
-THE MUSK-RAT OF INDIA.
-
-FROM AN ANGLO-INDIAN.
-
-
-The musk-rat is from six to eight inches long, of a slatish-blue
-colour, with a long movable snout, and diminutive eyes. Its skin is
-very loose, and quite conceals the extremities, only allowing the feet
-to be seen. This formation occasions the peculiar pattering of its
-run. The tail, broad at its base, is pinkish and bare of everything
-except a few hairs; ears are diminutive. Loathed and detested by all,
-this creature leads a charmed life; only a few dogs will kill it, and
-then there is always sneezing and a little foaming afterwards. Cats
-follow but won’t touch it; it is, moreover, equally avoided by more
-aristocratic rats and mice. As the animal runs along the wall of the
-room, it emits a kind of self-satisfied purr, which, if alarmed, breaks
-into a squeak, and immediately the scent-bottle is opened. If there is
-light to see the tiny creature, you will observe it scanning with its
-nose all parts of the horizon in search of what caused the alarm; the
-eyes apparently being unequal to the task.
-
-Musk-rats have a singular habit of always running along the walls of
-a room, never crossing from one wall to the other; hence, as they are
-not swift movers, they are easily overtaken, and a blow from a cane
-instantly kills the animal. Traps are of little use in capturing these
-creatures; and if one is captured, that trap is for ever useless as
-regards ordinary rats and mice, which won’t approach it after being
-contaminated. ‘Muskies’ are omnivorous and very voracious. During the
-rains, the insect world is on the wing. If at this season you place
-a night-light on the ground near the beat of a musk-rat, you will be
-amused at watching its antics in trying to catch some of the buzzers
-round the light, or those crawling up the wall, and will be surprised
-at its agility. The captives are ruthlessly crunched, and the animal
-never seems satiated; at the same time its enjoyment is evinced by
-its purring. Woe betide him should another musky invade this happy
-hunting-ground! War is at once proclaimed, and immediately the two are
-fighting for their lives, squeaking, snapping, biting, rolling over
-and over, and all the time letting off their awful scent-bottles. You,
-in the comparative distance, just escape the disgusting odour; but the
-insect invasion catch it full, and quickly leave the scene. And so the
-fight goes on, until you happily catch both the combatants with one
-blow of your cane, and the stinking turmoil ceases; and having thrown
-open the doors to ventilate the room, you are glad to retire to rest.
-
-I was awakened one night at Arrah by the squeaking and stench of two
-musk-rats, which were in mortal combat near my bed. Quietly rising and
-seizing my slipper, I smote the combatants a wrathful blow, to which
-one succumbed, and the other escaped through the venetian. I then lay
-down again, but only to hear the hateful p-r-r-r-r of ‘musky,’ who had
-come to look after his dead brother. Seizing him, he carried him off
-to the venetian, and there dropped him with a squeak, as I rose to my
-elbow. Bringing the dead rat back and laying my slipper handy, I again
-lay down. Very soon I heard the disgusting purr and saw the dead musky
-being carried off; and now the slipper was true, and both muskies lay
-prone.
-
-Apropos to this, if you throw out a dead rat or mouse, he is at once
-swooped upon by a kite or crow; but both these scavengers will avoid
-a dead musk-rat; the kite will swoop and pass on as if he had not
-noticed the odour, whilst our old friend the crow will alight at a
-safe distance, and with one eye survey the dead shrew. Perhaps in that
-glance a whiff from the scent-bottle reaches him, for he hops off a
-yard or two, caws, and then rubs his beak once or twice on the ground.
-Then he takes an observation with the other eye, caws, and flies up
-into the overhanging nína tree. No one will touch the dead musk-rat;
-even those faithful undertakers, the burying-beetles, avoid him.
-
-Now, what is the scent of the musk-rat like? When I was last at home in
-1875, I went into a greenhouse on a hot summer day, and found it given
-up to the musk-plant. ‘Muskies! muskies!’ I exclaimed, as I fled from
-the stifling, dank, and fetid atmosphere. Get up that combination—a
-hot day, a dank, humid, and suffocating greenhouse given up to the
-musk-plant, and you will have the full effect of only one full-blown
-musky. The odour of the plant, heavy when close, is delicate when
-diffused; the scent of the musk-rat, on the other hand, is heavy when
-diffused, and insupportable when near. The marvellous diffusibility of
-this odour is illustrated in many ways. It has long been maintained
-that the musk-rat has only to pass over a closely corked bottle of
-wine to destroy its contents. I have tasted sherry so destroyed, and
-at the same time have placed corked bottles of water in the runs of
-musk-rats without any defilement. The odour won’t permeate glass, so
-the bottle of sherry must have been contaminated by a defiled cork.
-Place a porous water-goblet (_sooráhí_) in the run of a musk-rat, and
-defilement is secure; and if that goblet endures for a hundred years,
-it will during that century affect all water which may be put into it.
-These animals seem to enjoy communicating their disgusting odour to
-surrounding objects. It doesn’t follow that mere contact conveys it,
-for I have often handled these animals without contamination; but there
-is undoubtedly—setting aside the scent-bottle as a means of defence—an
-instinctive marking of objects for purposes of recognition, sheer
-mischief, or for the easing of the secretion organ.
-
-Another anomaly pertains to this animal: though so disgusting to
-others, it is not so to itself; and it is one of the tidiest and most
-cleanly of animals. Its nesting arrangements, too, are very peculiar;
-nothing is more greedily utilised than paper, which it tears up. Some
-years ago, I lived in a boarded house, and used to be nightly worried
-by a pattering and purring musky dragging a newspaper towards a certain
-corner. Arrived there, it disappeared down a hole and pulled the paper
-after it—that is, as much as would enter the hole. If I gently removed
-the paper, the inquisitive nose would appear ranging round the hole,
-and shortly after, the animal itself in quest of the paper. I had the
-boarding taken up, and there, in a paper nest, lay five pink and naked
-muskies, all heads, with hardly any bodies, and quite blind.
-
-I cannot find one redeeming trait in the character and conduct of
-_Sorex cœrulescens_, and I must admit that he is an ill-favoured beast,
-and of questionable utility.
-
-
-
-
-A DAY IN EARLY SUMMER.
-
-
- A little wood, wherein with silver sound
- A brooklet whispers all the sunny day,
- And on its banks all flow’rets which abound
- In the bright circle of the charmèd May:
- Primroses, whose faint fragrance you may know
- From other blooms; and oxlips, whose sweet breath
- Is kissed by windflowers—star-like gems which blow
- Beside pale sorrel, in whose veins is death;
- Larch-trees are there, with plumes of palest green;
- And cherry, dropping leaves of scented white;
- While happy birds, amid the verdant screen,
- Warble their songs of innocent delight.
- Surely they err who say life is not blest;
- Hither may come the weary and have rest.
-
- J. C. H.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON,
-and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH.
-
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-<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 44, Vol. I, November 1, 1884, by Various</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 44, Vol. I, November 1, 1884</p>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: October 13, 2021 [eBook #66531]</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div>
-
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 44, VOL. I, NOVEMBER 1, 1884 ***</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_689">{689}</span></p>
-
-<h1>CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL<br />
-OF<br />
-POPULAR<br />
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.</h1>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='center'>
-
-<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
-
-<a href="#HOW_THE_WEATHER_IS_MADE_AND">HOW THE WEATHER IS MADE AND FORECAST.</a><br />
-<a href="#BY_MEAD_AND_STREAM">BY MEAD AND STREAM.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_NEW_MEDI_VAL_ROOM_AT_THE">THE NEW MEDIÆVAL ROOM AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM.</a><br />
-<a href="#ONE_WOMANS_HISTORY">ONE WOMAN’S HISTORY.</a><br />
-<a href="#AN_EDUCATIONAL_PIONEER">AN EDUCATIONAL PIONEER.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_MISSING_CLUE">THE MISSING CLUE.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_MUSK-RAT_OF_INDIA">THE MUSK-RAT OF INDIA.</a><br />
-<a href="#A_DAY_IN_EARLY_SUMMER">A DAY IN EARLY SUMMER.</a><br />
-
-<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
-
-</p>
-
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="figcenter w100" id="header" style="max-width: 43.75em;">
- <img class="w100" src="images/header.jpg" alt="Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science,
-and Art. Fifth Series. Established by William and Robert Chambers, 1832. Conducted by R. Chambers (Secundus)." />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="full" />
-<div class="center">
-<div class="header">
-<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">No. 44.—Vol. I.</span></p>
-<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price</span> 1½<em>d.</em></p>
-<p class="floatc">SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1884.</p>
-</div></div></div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="HOW_THE_WEATHER_IS_MADE_AND">HOW THE WEATHER IS MADE AND
-FORECAST.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the minds of foreigners, it is held to be one
-of the many peculiarities of the people of these
-islands that so much of their casual conversation
-consists of remarks on the weather. The national
-temperament is often held to be responsible for
-this failing; but some of the blame must no
-doubt be laid at the door of the weather itself.
-Our climate presents such a record of change
-and uncertainty, that we need not wonder if it is
-always in our minds, and the first subject on our
-lips when we meet a friend. Other lands may
-have their cold and hot, dry, and rainy periods,
-that come round in the proper order year after
-year with unvarying monotony; but with us it
-may be said of the weather, that we rarely know
-what a day or an hour may bring forth. Even
-the seasons seem occasionally to be independent
-of any necessity of visiting us at the particular
-time of the year at which we have been taught
-to expect them. Spring weather in November,
-or a winter temperature in July, or a November
-fog in the merry month of May, all seem to be
-amongst the possibilities of our climate.</p>
-
-<p>Happily, our meteorologists are at length
-beginning to define with growing clearness and
-confidence the laws which underlie and regulate
-the complicated and ever varying phenomena
-which we call the weather, and many of these
-laws, like most natural laws, are beautiful in their
-simplicity. Although ‘weather wisdom’ is as
-old as history itself, the science of the weather
-or meteorology is a growth of the last few years.
-The weather wisdom of our forefathers may in
-the light of present knowledge be divided into
-sense and nonsense. Under the nonsense may
-be included not only such proverbs as that
-which attributed to St Swithin’s day and certain
-other times and seasons, occult influences
-over the weather, but most of the information
-of the old almanacs, which used to ascribe the
-character of the weather to the positions and
-movements of the heavenly bodies and the age
-and changes of the moon. The prevalence of the
-belief that the weather was regulated by such
-influences, can only be accounted for by the well-known
-love of the human mind for the wonderful
-and inexplicable. Much of the old weather lore,
-however, had a large element of truth in it,
-and was the result of the collective experience
-of many generations, which had found that certain
-phenomena were generally followed by certain
-conditions of weather. The saying, that a rosy
-sky in the morning presages rainy weather, and
-the same appearance in the evening, fine weather,
-was current weather lore before the Christian era,
-and is recognised as being, in a certain sense,
-true at the present day. Amongst sailors, farmers,
-shepherds, and such like, weather maxims,
-the result of observation and experience, have
-always been current, and the value of many
-of these is now recognised and explained by
-science.</p>
-
-<p>The first step towards acquiring an insight
-into the causes which control our weather is
-a study of the laws which regulate the flow
-and changes of the winds in these islands. The
-air is the great medium in which all the
-changes of weather are elaborated. We live
-at the bottom of a great ocean of air, which
-extends for many miles upwards, and which is
-always heaving and changing, like the other
-ocean which it covers. The winds, which are
-the ever-changing currents which flow through
-this invisible sea, are, roughly speaking, the
-principal factors in the making of the weather.
-Many of us know very well the general character
-of the weather which accompanies the wind from
-the principal points of the compass, that which
-comes from the moist warm south-west, for
-instance; or with the blustering, shower-bringing
-north-wester; or with the harsh, dry, east wind
-in spring; but to most of us the wind itself
-‘bloweth where it listeth.’ The movements of the
-air and changes of the wind are, however, subject
-to laws, a knowledge of which is in some degree
-necessary before we can understand how our
-weather is made for us.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_690">{690}</span></p>
-
-<p>A simple definition of the wind which we
-ordinarily experience is that it is air obeying
-the force of gravity, in seeking to return to
-an equilibrium which has been disturbed. By
-the aid of the barometer we are able to form
-some idea of what is constantly taking place in
-the great ocean above us. The principle upon
-which this simple and useful instrument is constructed
-is easily understood. The air presses
-downwards upon the earth’s surface with a
-weight averaging nearly fifteen pounds to the
-square inch. If a portion of the surface of
-any fluid is relieved from this pressure by
-inverting over it a tube exhausted of air, the
-weight of the air upon the surface outside will
-force the fluid up into the tube until the
-weight of the column counterbalances the pressure
-which the air would exercise upon the amount
-of surface covered by the mouth of the tube.
-A column of mercury in such a case will rise in
-an air-exhausted tube to a height of about thirty
-inches; while water, from its lighter specific
-gravity, rises to a height of about thirty-four
-feet before it counterbalances the weight of the
-air above. The depth, and consequently the
-pressure, of the air overhead is, however, constantly
-varying within certain limits; and the
-column of mercury in the barometer enables us to
-keep a faithful record of the movements of the
-waves of air in the great ocean under which we
-live. At times, the depth of air above us is
-comparatively shallow, and the pressure beneath
-is lessened; the column of mercury is not raised
-so high, and the barometer is said to fall. At
-other times, the air is heaped up in particular
-places; the pressure beneath is increased, and the
-barometer is said to rise. In stormy weather,
-the column of water in a water-barometer where
-the scale is very large may be seen to pulsate
-with every change of pressure from the air-waves
-at the surface.</p>
-
-<p>The winds are nothing more than the rush
-of air from the regions of high pressure to
-fill up the spaces where low pressure prevails.
-Thus, if the column of mercury should stand 28.6
-inches high at London, with a gradual rise as we
-travelled northward, until the barometer-reading
-was 29 inches at Edinburgh at the same time,
-this would indicate that a region of depression
-existed over the former place, and we should
-expect a rush of air in the form of wind
-blowing upon London from the north.</p>
-
-<p>When the barometrical readings taken simultaneously
-at stations distributed over a wide
-area are compared, the distribution of atmospheric
-pressure can be ascertained, and it is
-possible to tell from this the force and direction
-of the winds prevailing within this area,
-and generally also the weather which is
-likely to be experienced. The greater the
-inequality of pressure, the greater will be the
-rush of air to the centre of depression, and the
-stronger will be the wind. The wind, however,
-does not flow in a straight line from a region
-of high to a region of low pressure. The surrounding
-air from all quarters has a tendency
-to flow in, and, as with water, which rushes to
-the centre of a funnel when it is flowing out at
-the bottom, a gyratory movement is the result.
-The wind blows round a centre of depression in
-this way, always curving inward towards the
-centre; and in the northern hemisphere, this
-gyratory movement of the wind is always in a
-direction against the hands of a watch, while the
-contrary is the case in the southern hemisphere.
-These principles of the relation of the winds to
-atmospheric pressure hold good without exception
-over all the world. They were first definitively
-stated in America twenty-five years ago; but
-Professor Buys Ballot of Utrecht first drew
-attention to them in Europe, and the law
-expressing them is now generally recognised as
-Buys Ballot’s law.</p>
-
-<p>In ordinary circumstances in our latitude, the
-winds are generally regulated by the differences
-in pressure induced by contrasts between continents
-and oceans. Where the air becomes
-heated, an area of low pressure is produced,
-the warm air becoming rarefied and ascending,
-and the heavier cold air rushing in from the
-sides to supply its place. In winter, the weather
-over these islands is controlled to a great extent
-by the winds which sweep round a large area of
-depression which exists over the Atlantic, the
-mean centre of which is about midway between
-the continents of Europe and America, in the
-latitude of the Orkney Islands. This depression
-is the result of the contrast produced between
-the comparatively warm air over this portion of
-the Atlantic and the much colder air over the
-northern portion of Europe and America, which
-is continually flowing in to supply the place of
-the lighter and constantly ascending warm air.
-The winds sweeping round this centre strike
-our shores from the south-west. This depression
-is not stationary, but is continually shifting
-over a large but well-defined area, and it gives
-rise to many subsidiary eddies, or small cyclone
-systems as they are called, which sometimes skirt
-our coasts, or travel over these islands, bringing
-with them the storms of wind and rain and
-sudden changes of the wind with which we are
-familiar. In spring, the prevailing winds from
-the east and north-east, so much dreaded by
-many, are the result of a large cyclonic system
-formed by the sudden increase of temperature
-over middle and southern Europe, as the sun’s
-rays gain strength and the days lengthen. The
-temperature is not yet sufficiently high to bring
-in the air from off the Atlantic, as happens when
-the season is further advanced, so that the cold
-air rushes in from the polar regions in a huge
-eddy, striking our coasts from the east and north-east,
-and bringing in its train all the attendant
-miseries which make our English spring a time
-to be dreaded by the weak and ailing.</p>
-
-<p>A knowledge of the general principles which
-direct the flow of our prevailing winds is, however,
-only of general assistance in enabling us
-to forecast the weather which we experience in
-these islands. This is governed and produced to
-a great extent by the development of subsidiary
-centres of depression in and between the great
-cyclonic systems. These generally approach our
-shores from the west, travelling in a north-easterly
-direction; and they are responsible for most of
-the variable weather with which we are so
-familiar. They generally carry with them a certain
-well-defined course of weather. The readings
-of the barometer taken simultaneously at many
-places over a wide area on a system such as that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_691">{691}</span>
-now controlled by the Meteorological Office, enables
-us to determine the approach and development
-of these small cyclonic systems, and so to forecast
-with a certain degree of confidence the weather
-likely to be experienced in a certain district from
-twelve to twenty-four hours in advance. Most
-of the disturbing influences reach us from the
-west; and as the west coast of Ireland is the
-extreme limit to which our stations reach in that
-direction, we can receive only very short notice
-of their approach. This is one of the principal
-reasons why, with the means at present at our
-disposal, we cannot expect to make our weather
-science as perfect as in a country such as America,
-where the central office receives warnings from
-stations dispersed over the face of a vast continent.
-Nevertheless, we have made great advances since
-1861, when the first weather forecasts were prepared
-and issued in this country by the Board
-of Trade, under the superintendence of the late
-Admiral Fitzroy. The forecasts at that time,
-although admitted to be of considerable utility
-to the country, were thought to be scarcely accurate
-enough to justify their continuance upon the
-system then in operation, and they were discontinued
-in 1866.</p>
-
-<p>In the following year, the Meteorological
-Office was constituted upon its present footing,
-and the daily publication of forecasts has continued
-down to the present. Considering that—judging
-from the forecasts published daily
-in the newspapers—the chances of a successful
-forecast are on the average about seventy-nine
-per cent. for ordinary weather, while the percentage
-of successes is slightly higher in the case of
-storm warnings, it is evident that the Meteorological
-Office is capable of rendering important
-service to the community at large. Every morning,
-the central office in London receives telegraphic
-reports from fifty-three stations. It
-also receives thirteen reports every afternoon, and
-nineteen each evening. Besides the numerous
-well-placed observation stations in the British
-Islands, there are twenty-three foreign reporting
-stations, extending along the entire western coast
-of Europe, from which information is received,
-in accordance with arrangements made with the
-meteorological organisations in Norway, Sweden,
-Denmark, Germany, Holland, and France. The
-morning observations are made at all the British
-stations at eight <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span> Greenwich time, and are
-transmitted direct to the Meteorological Office,
-where they are received between nine and ten
-o’clock. Thus are given the barometrical and
-thermometrical readings at the various stations
-at eight <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span>; the direction and force of the
-wind, and the state of the weather, together
-with any changes of importance which may have
-been noticed in the course of the preceding day.
-From these reports, weather charts are made out,
-forecasts of the weather are prepared and issued
-to the evening papers in London and the provinces;
-and a telegraphic résumé of the weather,
-or, if necessary, intelligence of storms, is despatched
-to various points on our coasts and to foreign
-countries. The forecasts for the morning daily
-papers are issued at half-past eight <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span> on the
-previous evening. They are prepared from reports
-received from twenty-six home and six foreign
-stations; but although these are the most widely
-distributed and read of any issued from the office,
-they are much less complete than the eight <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span>
-forecasts.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Times</i> publishes every morning with the
-forecasts the weather chart issued by the department.
-This chart shows the condition and movements
-of the atmosphere over the British Isles
-and the vicinity; the distribution of pressure; the
-temperature, state of the sea, and the force and
-direction of the winds blowing within the area
-at six <span class="allsmcap">P.M.</span> on the previous day.</p>
-
-<p>The familiar dotted lines termed isobars, which
-are such a feature in weather maps of this sort,
-are lines at all places along which the barometer
-stands at the same height. Except where their
-regularity is broken by the existence of subsidiary
-disturbances, these lines extend in gradually
-widening circles around a centre of depression,
-the barometer always standing highest along
-the outside curve, and gradually and regularly
-falling towards the centre; so that if we could
-view our atmosphere from above one of those
-centres of depression, we would see a deep hollow,
-with sides sloping downwards to the centre,
-towards which the revolving air was being gradually
-indrawn, like water in an eddy.</p>
-
-<p>At intervals, we receive warning across the
-Atlantic, from the <i>New York Herald</i> weather
-bureau, respecting storms which are crossing the
-Atlantic towards our coasts, and which are often
-described as ‘likely to develop dangerous energy’
-on their way. Although many of those warnings
-are subsequently justified, or partially justified,
-it must not be supposed that these are storms
-which have left the American continent on their
-way to us, and that it has been possible to calculate
-their course across the Atlantic and predict
-the time of arrival upon our coasts. Mr Clement
-Ley, Inspector to the Meteorological Council, tells
-us that it is not yet satisfactorily shown that
-storms cross the Atlantic from America, and he
-presumes that arrangements must be effected by
-which the logs of passing steamers may be consulted
-in America as to the character of the
-weather experienced in crossing from this country;
-and from the information received in this manner,
-it is possible to arrive at conclusions respecting
-the direction and character of storms travelling
-towards this side of the Atlantic, and to anticipate
-their arrival by telegraph, the warning being
-flashed beneath the ocean in time to reach us
-long before the storm itself.</p>
-
-<p>The variety and complexity of the phenomena
-which have to pass under careful observation
-render the science of the weather an exceedingly
-difficult one to study, more especially as, up to
-the present, we have done little more than master
-its fundamental principles. The time ought not,
-however, to be far distant when we shall have
-the means at our disposal to enable us to forecast
-the weather with a nearer approach to certainty
-than we can attain at present. The results
-already obtained by the Meteorological Office
-are certainly encouraging, and it must be remembered
-that, in attempting to forecast the weather
-in this country, it labours under two serious
-disadvantages. The first is our geographical position,
-which at present precludes us from obtaining
-any but the shortest notice of weather approaching
-from the west—the point from which most
-of our weather comes. The other drawback is
-of a pecuniary nature, and it is to be regretted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_692">{692}</span>
-that it prevents us from testing to the full limit
-the usefulness of the Meteorological Office. It
-may be argued that, in this country, storms are
-seldom so sudden or disastrous as to justify us
-in maintaining at a very much larger outlay an
-organisation which would enable us to be warned
-of their approach. It is, however, only necessary
-to take into account the enormous losses
-in life and property occasioned every year by
-the weather in shipwreck alone, in order to
-appreciate what might be the value to the nation
-of a properly organised system of weather science,
-did it only succeed in reducing, even by a small
-percentage, the annual number of wrecks on our
-coasts.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak x-ebookmaker-important" id="BY_MEAD_AND_STREAM">BY MEAD AND STREAM.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3">BY CHARLES GIBBON.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER LIV.—POOR COMFORT.</h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Madge</span> awakened from the reverie into which
-she had fallen, to find Aunt Hessy’s kind eyes
-resting on her inquiringly and with a shade of
-sorrow in them. She, however, instantly awoke,
-brightened and spoke with cheerful confidence,
-although there was a certain note of timidity in
-her voice indicating that she had not yet quite
-recovered from the effects of the scene in her
-bedroom.</p>
-
-<p>‘You see, aunt, how wickedly Philip has
-been deceived, and that I was right to trust
-Mr Shield.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Yes, but—Mr Beecham?’</p>
-
-<p>Madge’s cheeks flushed, the smile disappeared,
-and the head was lifted with something like
-impatience. It seemed as if the pronunciation
-of Beecham’s name in that questioning tone
-revealed to her the full significance of Wrentham’s
-insinuations—that she was not acting
-fairly to Philip.</p>
-
-<p>‘I have told you, aunt, that he is Mr Shield’s
-friend, and that he is doing everything that can
-be done to help Philip out of his difficulties.
-You cannot doubt that whatever I may do is
-for the same object.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Ah, child, I never doubted thee. My doubt
-is that whilst desiring to do right thou may’st
-have done wrong in giving the trust to a
-stranger thou’rt afraid to give to those that love
-thee.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Mr Beecham will himself tell you before the
-week is out that he gave me such proofs of his
-friendship as would have satisfied even you.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Well, well, we shall say no more, child, till
-the time comes; but never expect goodman Dick
-to be patient with what he thinks unreasonable.
-See what a handle this rogue Wrentham—I
-always felt that he was a rogue—has made of
-thy name to help him in cheating and bamboozling
-Philip! Take my word, we may turn
-our toes barely an inch from the straight path
-at starting, but we’ll find ourselves miles from
-it ere the end if we do not make a quick halt
-and go back.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I have only held my tongue,’ said the girl
-quietly enough, but the feeling of offended innocence
-was there.</p>
-
-<p>‘Holding the tongue when one should speak
-out is as bad as telling a book of lies—worse, for
-we don’t know how to deal with it.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I should be less sorry for vexing you, aunt,’
-said the niece, ‘if I did not know that by-and-by
-you will be sorry for having been vexed with
-me.’</p>
-
-<p>‘So be it.—But now let us finish clearing up
-the room, and we’ll get the bedstead down in
-the morning. Dr Joy says that Mr Hadleigh is
-not nearly so much hurt as was thought at first,
-and that they may be able to move him in a
-day or two.’</p>
-
-<p>When the arrangements for turning the sitting-room
-into a bedroom had been completed—and
-there were nice details to be attended to in the
-operation, which the dame would intrust to no
-other hands than her own and her niece’s—Madge
-went in search of Pansy.</p>
-
-<p>Her sudden appearance in the kitchen interrupted
-the boisterous mirth which was going
-forward. When she inquired for Pansy Culver,
-there was an abashed look on the faces of those
-who had permitted the girl to go without inquiring
-whither; but Jenny Wodrow answered
-saucily:</p>
-
-<p>‘She got into a state when I was talking about
-Caleb Kersey, and slipped out before any of us
-could say Jack Robinson.’</p>
-
-<p>The silent reproof in the expression of Madge’s
-tender eyes had its effect even on this self-assertive
-damsel. Jerry Mogridge hobbled up to his
-young mistress.</p>
-
-<p>‘I’ll find her for you, Missy,’ he said cheerily,
-for he was in the happy state of mind of one
-who has enjoyed a good meal and knows that
-there is a good sleep lying between him and the
-next day’s toil.</p>
-
-<p>They went out to the yard, and Jerry, opening
-the door of the dairy, thrust his head into the
-darkness with the invocation: ‘Come out ov
-here, Pansy Culver; what are you doing there?
-Missy wants you.’ There was no answer, and
-after groping his way amidst cans and pails standing
-ready for the morning’s milk, he returned
-muttering: ‘She ain’t there anyhow. I’ll get the
-lantern, Missy, and we’ll soon find her, so being
-as she ha’n’t gone to her father’s.’</p>
-
-<p>Whilst Jerry went for the lantern, the moon
-began to light the snow-covered ground, and
-Madge discovered Pansy in the doorway of the
-stable. She was leaning against the door as if
-support were necessary to save her from falling.
-Madge put her arm round the girl, and drawing
-her out from the shadows into the moonlight,
-saw that the face was white as the snow at their
-feet, and felt that the form was shivering with
-agitation more than with cold.</p>
-
-<p>‘I knew it would upset you, Pansy; and
-intended to tell you myself, but wanted to do
-it when we were alone.’</p>
-
-<p>‘It doesn’t matter, Missy,’ answered the girl
-through her chattering teeth; ‘but thank you
-kindly. There’s no help for it now. I’ve been
-the ruin of him, and standing out here, I’ve seen
-how wicked and cruel I’ve been to him. I knew
-what he was thinking about, and I might have
-told him not to think of it—but I liked him—I
-like him, and I wish they would take me in his
-place. They ought to take me, for it was me
-that drove him to it.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Hush, hush, Pansy,’ said Madge with gentle
-firmness; ‘Caleb is innocent, and will be free
-in a few days. It was only some foolish business<span class="pagenum" id="Page_693">{693}</span>
-he had with Coutts Hadleigh which brought
-him under suspicion.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Yes, yes, but it was about me that he went
-to speak to Mr Coutts—and Mr Coutts never
-said anything to me that a gentleman might not
-say. Only he was very kind—very kind, and
-I came to think of him, and—and—it was all
-me—all me! And you, though you didn’t
-mean it, showed me how wrong it was, and
-I went away. And if Caleb had only waited,
-maybe—maybe.... I don’t know right what
-I am saying; but I would have come to
-myself, and have tried to make him happy.’</p>
-
-<p>This hysterical cry showed the best and the
-worst sides of the girl’s character. For a brief
-space she had yielded to the vanity of her sex,
-which accepts the commonplaces of gallantry
-as special tributes to the individual, and so
-had misinterpreted the attentions which Coutts
-would have paid to any pretty girl who came
-in his way. She had been rudely startled from
-her folly, and was now paying bitter penance
-for it. She took to herself all the blame of
-Caleb’s guilt, and insisted that she should be in
-jail, not him.</p>
-
-<p>Madge allowed her feelings to have full vent,
-and then was able to comfort her with the
-reiterated assurance of Caleb’s innocence, which
-would be speedily proved.</p>
-
-<p>The fit being over, Pansy showed herself to be
-a sensible being, and listened attentively to the
-kindly counsel of her friend. She agreed to
-follow her original plan, namely, to see her
-father in the morning and then return to Camberwell
-to devote her whole energies to the task
-of reclaiming her grandfather from his foolish
-ways and bringing him out to Ringsford. Madge
-was certain that this occupation would prove the
-best antidote to all Pansy’s unhappy thoughts
-and self-reproaches. Meanwhile it was arranged
-that Pansy should not have Jenny Wodrow for
-her bedfellow.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Affairs at the farm had gone on uncomfortably
-from the moment Dick Crawshay expressed displeasure
-with his niece. She made what advances
-she could towards reconciliation; but she did
-not yet offer any explanation. He was obliged
-to accept her customary service as secretary; but
-it was evident that he would have liked to
-dispense with it. Neither his appetite nor his
-slumbers were disturbed, however; and he slept
-soundly through the night whilst the fire was
-raging at the Manor. It was not until the wain
-with its load of milk-cans had started for the
-station that he heard from Jerry Mogridge the
-report of what had occurred.</p>
-
-<p>Then yeoman Dick mounted his horse and
-rode at full speed to Ringsford to offer what help
-it might be in his power to render, grumbling
-at himself all the way for not having been
-sooner aware of his neighbour’s danger. Finding
-Mr Hadleigh in the gardener’s cottage, where
-there was want of space and convenience, the
-farmer with impetuous hospitality invited the
-whole family to Willowmere. The invalid could
-not be removed until the doctor gave permission;
-but Caroline and Bertha were at once escorted to
-the farm. Miss Hadleigh remained at the cottage
-to assist the housekeeper in nursing her father:
-she was moved to do so by a sense of duty as
-well as by the knowledge that Alfred Crowell
-would come out as soon as he heard of the
-disaster, and he would expect to find her there.</p>
-
-<p>In the bustle and excitement of the first part
-of the day there was only one person who thought
-much about Philip and of the effect this new
-calamity might have upon him in his present
-state. As the afternoon advanced, everybody was
-wondering why he neither came nor sent any
-message. The arrival of Pansy relieved Madge
-on this and other points; and she was happily
-spared for that night the pain of learning that
-Philip did visit the gardener’s cottage without
-calling at Willowmere.</p>
-
-<p>Postman Zachy delivered two welcome letters
-in the cold gray light of the winter morning.
-Both were from Austin Shield—one for Mrs
-Crawshay, the other for Madge. The first simply
-stated that his old friend might expect to see
-him in a few days, and that he believed she
-would have reason to give him the kindly
-greeting which he knew she would like to give
-him. The second was longer and contained
-important information.</p>
-
-<p>‘Be patient and trust me still,’ it said. ‘You
-have fixed the week as the limit of your silence:
-before the time is out I shall be at Willowmere.
-Philip has acted in every way as I would have
-him act under the circumstances, except in the
-extreme mercy which he extends to the man
-Wrentham; but he pleads that it is for the sake
-of the poor lady and child whose happiness
-depends on the rascal, and I have been obliged
-to yield. At the last moment Wrentham
-attempted to escape, and would have succeeded
-but for the cleverness of the detective, Sergeant
-Dier.</p>
-
-<p>‘Be patient, and have courage till we meet
-again.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Be patient—have courage:’ excellent phrases
-and oftentimes helpful; but was there ever any
-one who at a crisis in life has found the words
-alone satisfactory? They by no means relieved
-Madge of all uneasiness, although she accepted
-them as a token that her suspense would soon
-be at an end. In one respect she was keenly
-disappointed: there was not a hint that the
-proofs she had given Mr Shield of Mr Hadleigh’s
-innocence of any complicity in his misfortunes
-had been yet acknowledged to be complete. Had
-that been done, Philip would have forgotten half
-his worries. Mr Shield was aware of that—he
-must be aware of it, and yet he was silent. She
-could not help thinking that there was some
-truth in Mr Hadleigh’s view of the eccentricity
-of his character.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_NEW_MEDI_VAL_ROOM_AT_THE">THE NEW MEDIÆVAL ROOM AT THE
-BRITISH MUSEUM.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the rooms at the British Museum, left
-vacant by the removal of the Natural History
-Collection to South Kensington, has lately been
-re-opened, under the title of the Mediæval Room,
-with a collection of curious objects, many of which
-possess strong personal as well as antiquarian
-interest. The articles shown range from the
-twelfth century downwards. Some of them have
-already been on exhibition in another part of
-the building; but the majority are now publicly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_694">{694}</span>
-shown for the first time. The various items
-have been carefully arranged and labelled by
-Messrs Franks and Read, the curators of the
-Ethnological Department, the fullness of the
-appended descriptions more than compensating
-for the temporary lack of a catalogue.</p>
-
-<p>Among the curiosities of more modern date
-is a silver-mounted punch-bowl of Inveraray
-marble, formerly the property of the poet
-Burns, and presented by his widow to Alexander
-Cunningham. Not far distant rests the Lochbuy
-brooch, a massive ornament four inches in diameter,
-said to date from about the year 1500,
-and to have been fashioned out of silver found
-on the estate of Lochbuy, in Mull. Its centre
-is a large crystal, surrounded by upright collets
-bearing pearls of considerable size. It was long
-preserved as a sort of heirloom in the Lochbuy
-family, but passed out of it by the marriage of
-a female representative, and in course of time
-became part of the Bernal Collection, whence
-it was acquired by the British Museum. Hard
-by it is a handsomely carved casket, made
-of the wood of Shakspeare’s mulberry tree,
-and presented in 1769, with the freedom of the
-town of Stratford-on-Avon, to David Garrick.
-The majority of the exhibits, however, belong
-to very much earlier periods. There is a
-choice display of horn and tortoiseshell snuff
-and tobacco boxes, two of the latter—duplicates,
-save in some unimportant particulars—bearing
-the arms of Sir Francis Drake, and the representation
-of a ship in full sail. We are told
-that boxes of this same pattern are frequently
-offered to collectors as having been the personal
-property of the great admiral; but an inscription
-on one of the specimens here exhibited
-shows that they were actually made by one
-John Obrisset in 1712.</p>
-
-<p>An ordinary-looking piece of rock-crystal in one
-of the cases claims to be the veritable ‘show-stone’
-or divining crystal of Dr Dee, the celebrated
-astrologer and alchemist of Queen Elizabeth’s
-time. Dee’s own account of the origin of the
-show-stone was as follows. He declared that one
-day in November 1582, while he was engaged
-in prayer, the angel Uriel appeared to him
-and presented him with a magic crystal, which
-had the quality, when steadfastly gazed into,
-of presenting visions, and even of producing
-articulate sounds. These sights and sounds, however,
-were only perceptible to a person endowed
-with the proper mediumistic faculty. This the
-doctor himself unfortunately lacked; but such
-a person was soon found in one Edward Kelly,
-who was engaged as the doctor’s assistant, and
-produced ‘revelations’ with Joseph-Smith-like
-facility. Indeed, his revelations had more than
-one point in common with those of the Mormon
-apostle, for it is recorded that on one occasion
-he received a divine command that he and
-the doctor should exchange wives, which edifying
-little family arrangement was actually carried
-out, with much parade of prayer and religious
-ceremonial. It seems probable that Dee really
-believed in the manifestations, and was himself
-the dupe of his unscrupulous associate. Kelly
-was accustomed to describe what he saw and
-heard in the magic crystal, and Dr Dee took notes
-of the mystic revelations. These notes were, in
-1659, collected and published in a folio volume
-by Dr Meric Casaubon, an eminent scholar of that
-day, who appears to have believed that the revelations
-were really the work of spirits, though of
-doubtful character. From these notes it would
-appear that Dee was possessed of two, if not
-more, divining crystals of various sizes. After his
-death, a stone, said to be one of these, came into
-the possession of the Earl of Peterborough, and
-thence into that of Lady Elizabeth Germaine. It
-subsequently fell into the hands of the then head of
-the House of Argyll, by whose son, Lord Frederick
-Campbell, it was presented to Horace Walpole.
-For many years it formed part of the Strawberry
-Hill Collection, and there was appended to the
-leather case in which it was contained a manuscript
-note, in Walpole’s own handwriting, describing
-it as ‘the black stone into which Dr Dee
-used to call his spirits,’ and recording the above
-facts respecting it. On the dispersion of the
-Strawberry Hill Collection in 1842, the stone in
-question is said to have been purchased, at the
-price of thirteen pounds, by Mr Smythe Pigott;
-and at the sale of that gentleman’s library in 1853,
-to have passed into the hands of Lord Londesborough.
-As to the later history of this particular
-stone, we have no information; but it is
-clearly not identical with the one in the British
-Museum. Horace Walpole’s is described as being
-a ‘black stone.’ Others add that it was in
-shape a flat disk, with a loop or handle, and it
-is generally believed to have been a highly
-polished piece of cannel coal. The one in the
-British Museum more nearly resembles the
-descriptions given of Lady Blessington’s crystal,
-employed for a similar purpose by Lieutenant
-Morrison, the Zadkiel of ‘almanac’ celebrity.
-It is a ball, about two inches in diameter,
-of rather dark rock-crystal, and, as Mr Read
-informs us, has been in the possession of the
-British Museum for nearly a century. Assuming,
-however, that, as stated in Casaubon’s notes,
-Dr Dee used two or more magic specula, this
-may of course have been one of them.</p>
-
-<p>This mystic crystal is appropriately flanked by
-a collection of oriental talismans, some in metal,
-for suspension from the neck; others of agate or
-chalcedony, engraved with charms and cabalistic
-signs, for reproduction on wax or parchment.
-Here also are a couple of bezoar stones, formerly
-much esteemed as possessing occult medical
-virtues, particularly as an antidote to poison.
-The genuine bezoar stone is a calculus found in
-the stomach of the goat or antelope. The specimens
-here shown are artificial, being compounded
-from a recipe in the possession of Sir Hans
-Sloane. They claim, however, to have all the
-virtues of the genuine article, which we think
-extremely probable! They have a peculiar aromatic
-smell, which probably assisted the belief
-in their hygienic properties.</p>
-
-<p>In another of the cases we find post-mortem
-casts of the faces of Charles II. and Oliver
-Cromwell. A third, anonymous when acquired
-by the Museum, has since been identified as that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_695">{695}</span>
-of Charles XII., king of Sweden. The musket-wound
-in the temple, by which he fell, is plainly
-observable. Not far distant are a leathern ‘black-jack’
-and a couple of ‘chopines,’ the latter,
-however, not being, as French scholars might
-be inclined to suppose, the measure of that
-name, but a sort of stilt about sixteen inches
-in height, with a shoe at the upper end, and
-formerly worn by the Venetian ladies. Shakspeare
-alludes to this queer article where he
-makes Hamlet say, addressing one of the female
-players, ‘By’r Lady, your ladyship is nearer
-heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude
-of a chopine.’ Here, too, are a couple of the
-mallets and a ball used in the old game of pall-mall.
-The present specimens were found in the
-house of Mr Vulliamy, situated in the street of
-the same name, which adjoins the ancient Mall.
-The ball is of wood, about two and a half inches
-in diameter; and the mallets, save that their
-heads are bound with iron, are almost precisely
-similar to those used in croquet at the present
-day.</p>
-
-<p>There are sundry curious ivories, among them
-being a drinking-horn made out of a single tusk,
-elaborately carved, and mounted with copper-gilt.
-It bears the inscription:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">Drinke you this, and thinke no scorne</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Although the cup be much like a horne.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It bears the date 1599, and is in general appearance
-like a fish, with a sort of scoop, or spoon-bowl,
-projecting from the mouth. There are
-indications that it was originally fashioned as a
-horn for blowing, but was afterwards converted
-to its present purpose. A small tablet of the same
-material represents ‘Orator’ Henley preaching.
-On the floor in the centre of the building,
-presumably Henley’s chapel in Lincoln’s Inn
-Fields, is seen an inscription indicating that the
-notorious Colonel Charteris lies buried there.
-Immediately in front of the preacher stands
-a bear on his hind-legs, holding a staff; and
-the congregation are represented with horns,
-exaggerated noses, heads of animals, and other
-deformities. The preacher appears to be uttering
-the words, ‘Let those not calumniate who cannot
-confute.’</p>
-
-<p>In another part of the room is a choice collection
-of ancient watches, pocket dials, and timepieces
-of various descriptions, some of very
-eccentric character. There are oval watches,
-octagon watches, and cruciform watches; watches
-in the form of tulips and other flowers. There
-is a dial in the form of a star, and another in
-the shape of a lute. A gilt clock, of considerable
-size, in the form of a ship, with elaborate mechanical
-movements, is said to have been made
-for the Emperor Rudolf II. A pocket dial
-shown has a special interest, as having belonged
-to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, some time
-favourite of Queen Elizabeth. This dial bears
-the arms of the ill-fated earl, together with an
-inscription showing that it was made by one
-James Kynvyn, in 1593.</p>
-
-<p>Astrolabes, nocturnals, and other astronomical
-instruments, English and foreign, are largely
-represented. There are ancient chess and backgammon
-boards, with men carved or stamped in
-divers quaint fashions; and a number of drinking-cups
-in bronze, rock-crystal, and silver, among
-those of the last material being a small goblet
-of graceful fashion long known as the ‘Cellini’
-cup, but believed to be in truth of German
-workmanship. An elegant tazza of rock-crystal,
-mounted with silver-gilt, has a medallion portrait
-of Queen Elizabeth in its centre; but whether
-it actually belonged to the Virgin Queen is
-uncertain.</p>
-
-<p>The connoisseur in enamels will here find a
-large and varied collection, ranging from the
-<i>cloisonné</i> of the Byzantine to the <i>champ levé</i> of
-the early Limoges school, and the surface-painting
-of later artists. Some of the specimens shown
-are extremely beautiful; indeed, this collection
-alone would well repay the trouble of a visit.
-One of the earlier specimens, a plate of German
-enamel, represents Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester,
-and brother to King Stephen. Among
-the more curious specimens of this ancient art
-are sundry bishops’ crosiers of various dates, and
-a couple of ‘pricket’ candlesticks, in which the
-candle, instead of being dropped into a socket in
-the modern manner, is impaled upon an upright
-point.</p>
-
-<p>A small <i>pietà</i> of the sixteenth century, placed
-in one corner of the room, deserves a special
-mention. The figures are in wax, skilfully
-draped with real silk and lace. Such a combination
-has usually a tawdry appearance, but it has
-no such effect in this instance. The name of the
-modeller has not been handed down to us, but
-he was unquestionably a true artist. The look
-of death on the Saviour’s face, and the heart-broken
-expression of the Madonna as she bends
-over to kiss his blood-stained brow, are almost
-painfully real. The power of the representation
-is the more remarkable from its small size, the
-whole group being only about eight inches
-square.</p>
-
-<p>In a collection numbering many hundreds
-of items, it is obviously impossible even to mention
-more than a very small proportion of the
-whole. We have spoken more particularly of
-such as have some personal or historical association
-connected with them; but on the score of
-antiquity alone, such a collection as this must be
-full of interest to thoughtful minds. Who can
-gaze upon these relics of the distant past without
-yearning to look back into the far-off times when
-all these things were new? What would we give
-to see, ‘in their habit as they lived,’ the men
-who fashioned these ancient timepieces, who
-drank from these crystal cups, and played tric-trac
-on these quaint backgammon boards? It
-needs but small imagination to call up Burns
-and his boon-companions carousing around the
-marble punch-bowl, with ‘just a wee drap in their
-e’e;’ but who shall name the knights who wore
-this iron gauntlet or that <i>repoussé</i> breastplate?
-Their ‘bones are dust, their good swords rust,’
-and yet here is part of their ancient panoply, well-nigh
-as perfect as when it left the armourer’s
-anvil four hundred years ago. Truly, they
-did good work, these mediæval artificers. The
-struggle for existence was not so intense; they
-did not hurry, as in these high-pressure days.
-Believing, with old George Herbert, that ‘we do
-it soon enough, if that we do be well,’ they
-wisely took their time, caring little to do quick
-work, so long as they did good work. And
-so their handiwork remains, <i>monumentum ære<span class="pagenum" id="Page_696">{696}</span>
-perennius</i>, a standing memorial of the good old
-time when ‘art was still religion,’ and labour
-was noble, because the craftsman put his heart
-into his work.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="ONE_WOMANS_HISTORY">ONE WOMAN’S HISTORY.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3"><i>A NOVELETTE.</i></p>
-
-<p class="ph3">BY T. W. SPEIGHT.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Five</span> minutes later, Archie Ridsdale burst
-abruptly into the room. ‘Here’s a pretty go!’
-he exclaimed. ‘Read this, please, dear Madame
-De Vigne,’ putting a telegram into her hand.</p>
-
-<p>Madame De Vigne took it and read: ‘“From
-Beck and Beck, Bedford Row, London.”’</p>
-
-<p>‘The guv’s lawyers,’ explained Archie.</p>
-
-<p>‘“To Archibald Ridsdale, <i>Palatine Hotel</i>, Windermere.—We
-are instructed to request you to
-be at our office at ten <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span> to-morrow, to meet
-Sir William Ridsdale.”’</p>
-
-<p>Mora looked at him as she gave him back the
-telegram.</p>
-
-<p>‘The last train for town,’ said Archie, ‘leaves
-in twenty-five minutes. My man is cramming
-a few things into a bag, and I must start for
-the station at once.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Were you not aware that your father had
-arrived from the continent?’</p>
-
-<p>‘This is the first intimation I’ve had of it.
-You know how anxiously I’ve been expecting an
-answer to the second letter I wrote him nearly
-a month ago.’</p>
-
-<p>‘It would seem from the telegram that he
-prefers a personal interview.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I’m glad of it for some things. He has never
-refused me anything when I’ve had the chance
-of talking to him, and I don’t suppose he will
-refuse what I shall undoubtedly ask him to-morrow.’</p>
-
-<p>Madame De Vigne shook her head. ‘You are
-far too sanguine. Sir William knows already
-what it is you want him to do. He knew it
-before, when—when’——</p>
-
-<p>‘When he sent Colonel Woodruffe as his plenipo.
-to negotiate terms with the enemy—meaning you,’
-said Archie, with a laugh. ‘A pretty ambassador
-the colonel made!’</p>
-
-<p>Madame De Vigne, who had risen and was
-gazing out of the window again, did not answer
-for a little while. At length she said: ‘Archie,
-while there is yet time, before you see your father
-to-morrow, I beg of you once more seriously
-to consider the position in which you will place
-yourself by refusing to break off your engagement
-with my sister. That Sir William will sanction
-your marriage with Clarice, I do not for one
-moment believe. What father in his position
-would?’</p>
-
-<p>Archie, when he burst into the room, had
-omitted to close the door behind him. It was
-now pushed a little further open, and, unperceived
-by either of the others, Clarice, dressed for walking,
-stepped into the room.</p>
-
-<p>‘Naturally, he must have far higher, far more
-ambitious views for his only son,’ continued
-Madame De Vigne. ‘As the world goes, he
-would be greatly to blame if he had not.
-So, Archie,’ she said, as she took both his hands
-in hers, ‘when you leave us to-night, I wish
-you clearly to understand that you go away
-unfettered by a tie or engagement of any kind.
-You go away as free and untrammelled as you
-were that sunny afternoon when you first set
-eyes on my sister. I speak both for Clarice and
-myself.’</p>
-
-<p>Here Clarice came quickly forward. ‘Yes—yes,
-dear Archie, that is so,’ she exclaimed. ‘You
-are free from this hour. I—I shall never cease
-to think of you, but that won’t matter to any
-one but myself.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Upon my word, I’m very much obliged to both
-of you,’ answered Archie, who was now holding
-a hand of each. ‘I don’t know whether to laugh
-or be angry. A nice, low, mean opinion you
-must have formed of Archie Ridsdale, if you
-think he’s the sort of fellow to act in the way
-you suggest.’ Then turning to Clarice, he said:
-‘Darling, when you first told me that you loved
-me, you believed me to be a poor man—poor in
-pocket and poor in prospects. That made no
-difference in your feelings towards me. There
-was then no question of a rich father coming
-between us—and I vow that neither he nor
-any one else in the world <i>shall</i> come between us!
-I love and honour my father as much as any
-son can do; but this is one of those supreme
-questions which each man must decide for himself.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I have said my say—the raven has croaked
-its croak,’ said Madame De Vigne with a little
-shrug, as she crossed to the other side of the
-room. ‘You are a wilful, headstrong boy, and
-I suppose you must be allowed to ruin yourself
-in your own way.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Ruin, indeed!’ exclaimed Archie as he drew
-Clarice to him. ‘I don’t in the least care who
-looks upon me as a ruin, so long as this sweet
-flower clings to me and twines its tendrils round
-my heart!’ And with that he stooped and kissed
-the fair young face that was gazing so lovingly
-into his own.</p>
-
-<p>‘Ah—boys and girls—girls and boys—you are
-the same all the world over,’ said Madame De
-Vigne with a sigh.</p>
-
-<p>‘And you won’t be able to go to the picnic
-to-morrow,’ remarked Clarice plaintively.</p>
-
-<p>Nanette appeared. ‘The carriage is at the door,
-sir. The driver says he has only just time to
-catch the train.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I’m going to the station, dear, to see Archie
-off,’ said Clarice to her sister.</p>
-
-<p>‘Good-bye—for a little while,’ said Archie, as
-he took Madame De Vigne’s hand. ‘The moment
-I have any news, you shall hear from me; and
-in any case, you will see me back before we are
-many days older.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Good-bye—and good-bye. Above all things,
-don’t forget the love and obedience you owe
-your father, and remember—the moment you
-choose to claim your freedom, it is yours.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Ah, dear Madame De Vigne’——</p>
-
-<p>She interrupted him with a slight gesture of
-her hand. ‘Do not think me hard—do not think
-me unkind. I have to remember that I am this
-girl’s sister and mother in one.’</p>
-
-<p>‘But’——</p>
-
-<p>‘Not another word.’ She took his head in
-both her hands and drew it towards her, and
-kissed him on the forehead. ‘Bon voyage! Dieu<span class="pagenum" id="Page_697">{697}</span>
-vous protège. The prayers of two women will
-go with you.’</p>
-
-<p>There was a tear in Archie’s eye as he turned
-away. Nanette was standing by the open door.
-A moment later, and the young people were
-gone.</p>
-
-<p>Madame De Vigne stepped out into the veranda
-and waved her handkerchief as the carriage drove
-off.</p>
-
-<p>‘He will marry her whether Sir William gives
-his consent or not,’ she mused. ‘He is in youth’s
-glad spring-tide, when the world is full of sunshine,
-and the dragons that beset the ways of life
-seem put there only to be fought and overcome.
-Well—let me but see my darling’s happiness
-assured, and I think that I can bear without
-murmuring whatever Fate may have in store for
-myself.’ She stepped back into the room, and as
-she did so, Nanette opened the door once more
-and announced—‘Colonel Woodruffe.’</p>
-
-<p>A slight tremor shook Madame De Vigne from
-head to foot. She drew a long breath, and
-advanced a step or two to meet the colonel as
-he entered the room.</p>
-
-<p>‘I told you that I should come,’ said Colonel
-Woodruffe, with a rich glow on his face as he
-went forward and held out his hand.</p>
-
-<p>‘And you are here,’ answered Madame De
-Vigne, who had suddenly turned very pale.</p>
-
-<p>‘Did you not expect me?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Yes,’ she answered, as for a moment she looked
-him full in the eyes.</p>
-
-<p>She sat down on an ottoman, and the colonel
-drew up a chair a little distance away. He was
-a tall, well-built, soldier-like man, some thirty-eight
-or forty years old.</p>
-
-<p>‘You know the purpose that has brought me?’
-he asked.</p>
-
-<p>‘I have not forgotten.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Two months ago I had the temerity to ask
-you a certain question. I, who had come to
-judge you, if needs were to condemn, had ended
-by losing my heart to the only woman I had
-ever met who had power to drag it out of my
-own safe keeping. You rejected my suit. I
-left you. Time went on, but I found it impossible
-to forget you. At length I determined
-again to put my fortune to the proof. It was
-a forlorn hope, but I am an old soldier, and I
-would not despair. Once more I told you all
-that I had told you before; once more I put
-the same question to you. This time you did not
-say No, but neither did you say Yes. To-day
-I have come for your answer.’ He drew his
-chair a little closer and took one of her hands.
-‘Mora, do not say that your answer to-day will
-be the same as it was before—do not say that
-you can never learn to care for me.’</p>
-
-<p>She had listened with bent head and downcast
-eyes. She now disengaged her hand, rose, crossed
-to the window, and then came back. She was
-evidently much perturbed. ‘What shall I say?
-what shall I say?’ she asked half aloud.</p>
-
-<p>The colonel overheard her and started to
-his feet. ‘Let me tell you what to say!’ he
-exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p>She held up her hand. ‘One moment,’ she
-said. Then she motioned to him to be seated,
-and herself sat down again.</p>
-
-<p>‘Has it never occurred to you,’ she began,
-‘to ask yourself how much or how little you
-really know about the woman whom you are
-so desirous of making your wife? Three months
-ago you had not even learnt my name, and now—even
-now, how much more do you know
-respecting me and my antecedents than you knew
-the first day you met me?’</p>
-
-<p>‘I know that I love you. I ask to know
-nothing more.’</p>
-
-<p>‘You would take me upon trust?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Try me.’</p>
-
-<p>She shook her head a little sadly. ‘It is not
-the way of the world.’</p>
-
-<p>‘This is a matter with which the world has
-nothing to do.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Colonel Woodruffe—I have a Past.’</p>
-
-<p>‘So have all of us who are no longer boys
-or girls.’</p>
-
-<p>‘It is only right that you should know the
-history of that Past.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Such knowledge could in nowise influence
-me. It is with the present and the future only
-that I have to do.’</p>
-
-<p>‘It is of the future that I am now thinking.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Pardon me if I scarcely follow you.’</p>
-
-<p>‘How shall I express to you what I wish
-to convey?’ She rose, crossed to the table, and
-taking up a book, began to turn its leaves
-carelessly over, evidently scarcely knowing what
-she was about. ‘If—if it so happened that I
-were to accede to your wishes,’ she said—‘if, in
-short, I were to become your wife—and at some
-future time, by some strange chance, some incident
-or fact connected with my past life, of which
-you knew nothing, and of which you had no
-previous suspicion, were to come to your knowledge,
-would you not have a right to complain
-that I had deceived you? that I had kept
-silence when I ought to have spoken? that—that’——</p>
-
-<p>‘Mora—Mora, if this is all that stands between
-me and your love—between me and happiness,
-it is nothing—less than nothing! I vow to
-you’——</p>
-
-<p>‘Stay!’ she said, coming a step or two nearer
-to him. ‘Do not think that I fail to appreciate
-your generosity or the chivalrous kindness which
-prompts you to speak as you do. But—I am
-thinking of myself as well as of you. If such
-a thing as I have spoken of were to happen,
-although your affection for me might be in nowise
-changed thereby, with what feelings should
-I afterwards regard myself? I should despise
-myself, and justly so, to the last day of my
-life.’</p>
-
-<p>‘No—no! Believe me, you are fighting a
-shadow that has no substance behind it. I tell
-you again, and I will tell you so a hundred
-times, if need be, that with your Past I have
-nothing whatever to do. My heart tells me
-in accents not to be mistaken that you are a pure
-and noble-minded woman. What need a man
-care to know more?’</p>
-
-<p>‘I should fail to be all that you believe me
-to be, were I not to oppose you in this matter
-even against your own wishes.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Do you not believe in me? Can you not
-trust me?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Oh, yes—yes! I believe in you, and trust
-you as only a woman can believe and trust. It
-is the unknown future and what may be hidden
-in it, that I dread.’ She crossed to the chimney-piece,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_698">{698}</span>
-took up the letter, gazed at it for a
-moment, and then went back with it in her
-hand. ‘Since you were here five days ago, I have
-written this—written it for you to read. It
-is the life-history of a most unhappy woman.
-It is a story that till now has been a secret
-between the dead and myself. But to you it
-must now be told, because—because—oh! you
-know why. Take it—read it; and if after that
-you choose to come to me—then’——</p>
-
-<p>Not a word more could she say. She put the
-letter into his hand, and turning abruptly away,
-crossed to the window, but she saw nothing for
-the blinding mist of tears that filled her eyes.</p>
-
-<p>Colonel Woodruffe, with his gaze fixed on the
-letter, stood for a moment or two turning it over
-and over in his fingers. Then he crossed to
-the fireplace. In a stand on the chimney-piece
-were some vesta matches. He took one, lighted
-it, and with it set fire to the letter, which he held
-by one corner till it was consumed. Madame
-De Vigne had turned and was watching him
-with wide-staring eyes.</p>
-
-<p>‘“Let the dead Past bury its dead,”’ said the
-colonel gravely, as the ashes dropped from his
-fingers into the grate. ‘Your secret shall remain
-a secret still.’</p>
-
-<p>‘’Tis done! I can struggle no longer,’ said
-Madame De Vigne to herself.</p>
-
-<p>The colonel crossed to her and took one of
-her hands. ‘Nothing can come between us now,’
-he said. ‘Now you are all my own.’</p>
-
-<p>He drew her to him and touched her lips
-with his. All her face flushed rosy red, and
-into her eyes there sprang a light of love and
-tenderness such as he had never seen in them
-before. Never had he seen her look so beautiful
-as at that moment. He led her back to the
-ottoman and sat down beside her.</p>
-
-<p>‘Tell me, dearest,’ he said, ‘am I the same man
-who came into this room a quarter of an hour
-ago—doubting, fearing, almost despairing?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Yes, the same.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I began to be afraid that I had been changed
-into somebody else. Well, now that the skirmish
-is over, now that the fortress has capitulated,
-suppose we settle the terms of victory. How
-soon are we to be married?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Married! You take my breath away. You
-might be one of those freebooters of the middle
-ages who used to hang their prisoners the
-moment they caught them.’</p>
-
-<p>‘We are prepared to grant the prisoner a
-reasonable time to make her peace with the
-world.’</p>
-
-<p>Madame De Vigne laid a hand gently on his
-sleeve. ‘Dear friend, let us talk of this another
-time,’ she said.</p>
-
-<p>‘Another time then let it be,’ he answered as
-he lifted her hand to his lips. ‘Meanwhile’——</p>
-
-<p>‘Yes, meanwhile?’</p>
-
-<p>‘I may as well proceed to give you a few
-lessons in the art of making love.’</p>
-
-<p>‘It may be that the pupil knows as much of
-such matters as her teacher.’</p>
-
-<p>‘That has to be proved. You shall have your
-first lesson to-morrow.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Merci, monsieur.’</p>
-
-<p>‘By Jove! talking about to-morrow reminds
-me of something I had nearly forgotten.’ He
-started to his feet and pulled out his watch.
-‘Now that you have made me the happiest
-fellow in England, I must leave you for a little
-while.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Leave me?’ she exclaimed as she rose to her
-feet.</p>
-
-<p>‘Only for a few hours. On my arrival here
-I found a telegram from my brother. He has
-been staying at Derwent Hall, near Grasmere.
-To-morrow he starts for Ireland. We have some
-family matters to arrange. If I don’t see him
-to-night, we may not meet again for months.
-I’m sorry at having to go, but you won’t mind
-my leaving you till to-morrow?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Can you ask? Do you know, I’m rather
-glad you are going.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Why glad?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Because it will give me time to think over
-all that has happened this evening. I—I feel
-as if I want to be alone. You are not a woman,
-and can’t understand such things.’</p>
-
-<p>Again his arm stole round her waist. The
-clock on the mantel-piece struck the hour.
-Mora disengaged herself. ‘Twilight seems to
-have come all at once,’ she said. ‘You will have
-a dark drive. It is time for you to go.’</p>
-
-<p>‘More’s the pity.’</p>
-
-<p>‘To-morrow will soon be here; which reminds
-me that we have arranged for a picnic to-morrow
-at High Ghyll Force.’</p>
-
-<p>‘You will be there?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Clarice and Miss Gaisford have induced me
-to promise.’</p>
-
-<p>‘If I should happen to drive round that way
-on my return, should I be looked upon as an
-intruder?’</p>
-
-<p>‘As if you didn’t know differently from that!’</p>
-
-<p>‘Then possibly you may see me.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I shall expect you without fail.’</p>
-
-<p>‘In that case I will not fail.—My driver will
-be wondering what has become of me.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Good-night,’ said Mora impulsively.</p>
-
-<p>‘Harold,’ he said softly.</p>
-
-<p>‘Harold—dear Harold!’ she answered.</p>
-
-<p>‘My name never sounded so sweet before,’
-exclaimed the colonel as, with a parting embrace,
-the gallant wooer quitted the apartment.</p>
-
-<p>‘Heaven bless you, my dearest one!’ she murmured
-as the door closed. Then she sank on to
-a seat and wept silently to herself for several
-minutes. After a time she proceeded to dry her
-eyes. ‘What bundles of contradictions we women
-are! We cry when we are in trouble, and we
-cry when we are glad.’</p>
-
-<p>Nanette came in, carrying a lighted lamp.
-She was about to close the windows and draw
-the curtains, but her mistress stopped her. After
-the hot day, the evening seemed too fresh and
-beautiful to be shut out. Nanette turned down
-the flame of the lamp till it seemed little more
-than a glowworm in the dusk, and then left
-the room.</p>
-
-<p>‘How lonely I feel, now that he has gone,’
-said Mora; ‘but to-morrow will bring him again—to-morrow!’</p>
-
-<p>She crossed to the piano and struck a few notes
-in a minor key. Then she rose and went to the
-window. ‘Music has no charms for me to-night,’
-she said. ‘I cannot read—I cannot work—I cannot
-do anything. What strange restlessness is
-this that possesses me?’ There was a canary
-in a cage hanging near the window. It chirruped<span class="pagenum" id="Page_699">{699}</span>
-to her as if wishful of being noticed. ‘Ah, my
-pretty Dick,’ she said, ‘you are always happy
-so long as you have plenty of seed and water.
-I can whisper my secret to you, and you will
-never tell it again, will you? Dick—he loves
-me—he loves me—he loves me! And I love
-him, oh, so dearly, Dick!’</p>
-
-<p>She went back to the piano and played a few
-bars; but being still beset by the same feeling of
-restlessness, she presently found her way again
-to the window. On the lawn outside, the dusk
-was deepening. The trees stood out massive and
-solemn against the evening sky, but the more
-distant features of the landscape were lost in
-obscurity. How lonely it seemed! There was
-not a sound anywhere. Doubtless, several windows
-of the hotel were lighted up, but from
-where Mora was standing they were not visible.
-Dinner was still in progress; as soon as it should
-be over, the lawn would become alive with figures,
-idling, flirting, smoking, seated under the trees,
-or promenading slowly to and fro. At present,
-however, the lady had the whole solemn, lovely
-scene to herself.</p>
-
-<p>She stood gazing out of the window for some
-minutes without moving, looking in her white
-dress in the evening dusk like a statue chiselled
-out of snowy marble.</p>
-
-<p>‘My heart ought to beat with happiness,’ she
-inwardly communed; ‘but it is filled with a
-vague dread of something—I know not what—a
-fear that has no name. Yet what have I to fear?
-Nothing—nothing! My secret is still my own,
-and the grave tells no tales.’</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly a breath of air swept up from the
-lake and shook the curtains. She looked round
-the dim room with a shudder. The tiny tongue
-of flame from the lamp only served, as it were,
-to make darkness visible. She made a step
-forward, and then drew back. The room seemed
-full of weird shadows. Was there not something
-in that corner? It was like a crouching figure,
-all in black, waiting to spring upon her! And
-that curtain—it seemed as if grasped by a hidden
-hand! What if some one were hiding there!</p>
-
-<p>She sank into the nearest chair and pressed
-her fingers to her eyes. ‘No—no—no!’ she
-murmured. ‘These are only my own foolish
-imaginings. O Harold, Harold! why did you
-leave me?’</p>
-
-<p>Next moment the silence was broken by the
-faint, far-away sound of a horn, playing a slow,
-sweet air. Mora lifted her head and listened.</p>
-
-<p>‘Music on the lake. How sweet it sounds.
-It has broken the spell that held me. It seems
-like the voice of a friend calling through the
-darkness. I will walk down to the edge of the
-water. The cool air from the hills will do me
-good.’</p>
-
-<p>There was a black lace scarf hanging over the
-arm of a couch; she took it up and draped it
-over her head and round her throat and shoulders.
-Her foot was on the threshold, she was in the act
-of stepping out into the veranda, when she heard
-a voice outside speaking to some other person.
-The instant she heard it she shrank back as
-though petrified with horror.</p>
-
-<p>‘That voice! Can the grave give up its dead?’
-she whispered as though she were asking the
-question of some one.</p>
-
-<p>Next moment the figures of two men, one
-walking a little way behind the other, became
-distinctly outlined against the evening sky as
-they advanced up the sloping pathway from the
-lake. The first of the two men was smoking,
-the second was carrying some articles of luggage.</p>
-
-<p>The first man came to a halt nearly opposite
-the windows of Madame de Vigne’s sitting-room.
-Turning to the second man, he said, with a pronounced
-French accent: ‘Take my luggage into
-the hotel. I will stay here a little while and
-smoke.’</p>
-
-<p>The second man passed forward out of sight.
-The first man, still standing on the same spot,
-took out another cigar, struck a match, and proceeded
-to light it. For a moment by the light
-of the match his features were plainly visible;
-next moment all was darkness again.</p>
-
-<p>But Madame De Vigne, crouching behind the
-curtains of the dimly lighted room, had seen
-enough to cause her heart to die within her.</p>
-
-<p>‘The grave <i>has</i> given up its dead! It is he!’
-her blanched lips murmured.</p>
-
-<p>Some minutes later, Clarice Loraine, on going
-into the sitting-room, found her sister on the floor
-in a dead faint.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="AN_EDUCATIONAL_PIONEER">AN EDUCATIONAL PIONEER.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">It</span> would be difficult to find a more unique
-or more interesting educational body than the
-so-called Brothers of the Christian Schools.
-Founded some two hundred years ago by the
-venerable John Baptist de la Salle, on lines
-which the best schools of to-day have not hesitated
-to adopt, the influence of this Institute
-has spread over all the civilised, and even to
-some regions of the uncivilised world. Its extension
-to Great Britain is but of recent date, and
-only seven schools have as yet been inaugurated.
-The thoroughness and practical value of the
-instruction given are mainly due to a strict
-adherence to the ‘object’ lesson principle.</p>
-
-<p>Hitherto, we have been accustomed to associate
-this with the Kindergarten ideas of Pestalozzi
-and Froebel; but although their efforts to lighten
-the intellectual labours of the young were mainly
-instrumental in bringing ‘playwork’ to its present
-perfection, recent researches have shown that the
-venerable Dr de la Salle in his educational plan
-strongly urged that pupils should be taken to
-exhibitions and so forth, where their masters
-could give practical illustrations of special studies.
-Zoological or botanical gardens were in this way
-to be visited, that the uses and benefits of certain
-animals or plants might be demonstrated; and
-school museums, herbaria, geological, mineralogical,
-and other collections were afterwards to
-be formed by the pupils themselves. And not
-only did De la Salle institute object-teaching,
-but he was also the first to introduce class
-methods. Before his time, children were for
-the most part taught individually, or, where this
-was not so, large numbers were collected in one
-room, each in turn going to the teacher to have
-separate instruction, whilst the others were allowed
-to remain idle, free to torment one another or
-the little victim at the master’s table. Great
-care was taken by De la Salle in examining and
-placing the children committed to his care in
-the classes best fitted for them; and the success<span class="pagenum" id="Page_700">{700}</span>
-of his method was so great, that the numerous
-schools opened by the Brothers under his direction
-soon became overcrowded.</p>
-
-<p>His great object was to reach the poor, and
-to train them to a knowledge of a holy life
-and an independent livelihood. The opposition
-he met with was at times very great. The ire
-of professional writing-masters was first aroused;
-the poor had necessarily been debarred from
-learning to write, because only the well-to-do
-could afford the stipulated fees, and writing-masters
-were therefore employed to do all the
-correspondence of those who could not write.
-So, when De la Salle undertook to teach every
-child who came to him what had been in some
-senses a secret art, their fury vented itself in an
-opposition so overpowering that they drove the
-Brothers from their schools in Paris and threw
-their furniture into the streets. The opposition
-was only temporary, however; and as time
-passed, fresh schools were opened, not only in
-France and her colonies, but in every European
-country, and many parts of America, as well as
-in one or two districts of Asia and Africa.</p>
-
-<p>The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian
-Schools, though nominally Roman Catholic, is
-truly catholic in its widest sense, for, besides
-admitting children of every religious denomination,
-secular learning is admirably provided for.
-Their greatest successes have perhaps been achieved
-in the art of writing and drawing, as applied to
-all technical industries and art products. One
-illustration of the results of their method of teaching
-writing in a remote region where the pupils
-are not the easiest to train, may be cited as an
-example. When the treaty of commerce between
-France and Madagascar in 1868 was about to be
-signed, Queen Ranavalona was much struck by
-the beautiful caligraphy of the copy presented to
-her by the Chancellor of the French Consulate,
-and she determined that hers should not be
-inferior. The pupils in all the chief schools
-in the island furnished examples of handwriting
-to the queen’s prime-minister, but without satisfying
-her taste. At last, an officer who had seen
-the Brothers’ schools suggested that one of their
-pupils should compete. A young boy, Marc
-Rabily-Kely, sent in some beautiful specimens
-of different styles of writing; and the copying
-of the treaty was at once intrusted to him.
-When the two copies were presented side by side,
-a murmur of applause went round at the sight
-of Queen Ranavalona’s copy, and all cried out:
-‘Resy ny vasoha’ (The whites are beaten). This
-is only one instance among many, and shows how
-much can be done by systematic training in the
-art of writing, a subject much neglected in the
-majority of schools.</p>
-
-<p>But De la Salle did not stop short at educating
-the poor; he was the first to found training
-colleges for masters, and the first to institute
-regular boarding-schools in which everything
-relating to commerce, finance, military engineering,
-architecture, and mathematics was taught,
-and in which trades could be learned. Besides
-these, he founded an institution in which agriculture
-was taught as a science. At St Yon, where
-the first agricultural school was started, a large
-garden was devoted to the culture of specimens
-of fodder-plants, injurious plants, grain, plants
-peculiar to certain soils, fruits and flowers. The
-students of to-day study all this, and in addition
-to working on model farms, visit all the best
-farms around, are sent with special professors
-to attend certain markets and sales of live-stock,
-and have special field-days for practically studying
-botany, geology, and entomology. The innovations
-introduced by De la Salle extended to
-other matters than practical education. Before
-French boys in his day were allowed to study
-their own language, they were obliged to learn
-to read Latin, and thus years were sometimes
-spent in acquiring a certain facility in reading
-a language they never understood. De la Salle
-changed all this, in spite of repeated opposition,
-and succeeded in making the vernacular tongue
-the basis of their teaching instead of Latin. Owing
-to this change, the poor scholars progressed much
-more rapidly than those in other schools, and the
-Brothers’ Institutes were soon far ahead of all
-the elementary schools of their day. The way
-in which they have held their position even till
-to-day is shown by the results of the public examinations
-in Paris during the last thirty-five
-years. Out of sixteen hundred and thirty-five
-scholarships offered during this time, pupils
-of these schools have obtained thirteen hundred
-and sixteen. This in itself is an enormous
-proportion; but it is even greater than it
-appears, when we consider that seculars had more
-schools, fewer pupils per teacher, and thus a better
-chance to advance the individual scholar, and as
-a rule, a richer class of scholars to select from.
-These scholarship examinations have recently
-been discontinued, though not until after the
-Brothers’ pupils were excluded from competition
-in consequence of the so-called ‘laicisation’ of
-schools in 1880, after which the Brothers of Paris
-gave up their government schools and opened
-voluntary ones.</p>
-
-<p>The whole educational scheme of De la Salle
-was admirably complete; but perhaps the most
-interesting feature of the whole—now that we
-are familiarised with his systems for teaching
-special subjects by their spread in their original
-or a modified form to most European countries—was
-his very simple plan for enforcing discipline.
-He was always loath to believe unfavourable
-accounts of any pupil, and in the first place took
-pains to discover whether the failings were the
-result of the misdirection of those in authority
-or of the pupil’s own wilfulness. When there
-was evidently a necessity for punishment, the
-culprit was put in a quiet and fairly comfortable
-cell. Once shut in alone, his notice was attracted
-to stands obviously intended for flowers, to empty
-cages and other things which reminded the little
-prisoner that there were good and beautiful enjoyments
-for those who deserved them. One of the
-first questions the boys generally asked was why
-there were nails for pictures, cages for birds, &amp;c.,
-and yet neither pictures nor birds. In answer,
-they were told that as they improved they would
-be supplied with all these good things; that if
-they left off using profane or bad language, a bird
-would be put in the cage; that as soon as they
-became industrious and worked well, their prison
-vases would be adorned with flowers; that when
-they acknowledged their previous wrong-doing,
-pleasant pictures would be hung on the panels;
-that when their repentance was seen to be sincere,
-they would rejoin their schoolfellows; and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_701">{701}</span>
-that in time they would be allowed to go back
-to their families.</p>
-
-<p>The system worked so well, and is still found
-to succeed so thoroughly, that it is almost a
-wonder it has not become more general. It has
-certainly many advantages over the plan of giving
-boys so many hundred lines to write, which is
-a mere task, soon forgotten, and benefiting no one.
-But as there are only seven schools, and those
-of very recent foundation, in England, we may
-perhaps still have to wait before hearing that
-this discipline is at all general. In the meantime,
-all interested in the training of the young
-might derive valuable hints from studying this
-and other methods initiated by the pioneer of
-popular education not only in France, but in all
-Europe.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_MISSING_CLUE">THE MISSING CLUE.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3">A TALE OF THE FENS.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER I.—THE ARRIVAL AT THE ‘SAXONFORD ARMS.’</h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">If</span> any misanthropic subject of His Most Gracious
-Majesty King George II. had wished to withdraw
-himself from the bustle of public life and turn
-recluse in real good earnest, he could scarcely
-have chosen a district more likely to suit his
-retiring taste than the country in the vicinity
-of Saxonford. Scarcely aspiring to the dignity
-of a village, the place so named was merely a
-cluster of cottages formed upon the edge of a
-rough highway leading apparently to nowhere.
-In ancient times this spot had been of somewhat
-more importance, for it was here that a religious
-house of no inconsiderable size had flourished.
-But those days had long passed away; and in
-1745 the only remnant of the monastery which
-survived the depredations committed by man and
-the all-effacing hand of Time was a gray skeleton
-tower, a silent witness to its departed conventual
-magnificence. Being erected, as was usually the
-case with fen settlements, upon a rise of comparatively
-high land, the remains commanded a
-view of an almost unbroken horizon. Standing
-at some distance from the hamlet which had
-arisen round the monastic ruin was a quaint
-dilapidated structure, known to the scattered
-natives of those parts as the <i>Saxonford Arms</i>.
-Whatever might have been the causes that
-induced the architect to build such an inn—for
-it was by no means a small one—in so
-lonely a part, must remain a matter of conjecture.
-A visitor was almost unknown at the
-old inn. There it stood, weather-beaten and
-time-worn as the gray old tower which overlooked
-it, and much more likely to tumble down,
-if the truth be told.</p>
-
-<p>At the time we speak of, the scene appeared
-unusually calm and beautiful, for the day was
-drawing to an end, and it was close upon sunset,
-a period which is seldom seen to so much advantage
-as in the low-lying districts of the fens.
-The weather had been unusually hot, and the
-sinking sun shed a warm glow over a tract of
-well-browned country, making its rich hues seem
-richer still. In the glassy water of the river,
-the vivid sky was reflected as in a mirror, while
-the tall tops of the sedge-rushes that bordered
-it were scarcely stirred by a breath of air. A
-rotten timber bridge, which might have been
-erected in the time of Hereward, spanned the
-stream at a short distance from the old inn;
-crossing this, the road dipped down and led
-the way between patches of black peat, cultivated
-land, and unreclaimed watery morass, straight
-towards the south.</p>
-
-<p>A small party of strong sunburnt fen labourers
-were seated on the rough benches in front of
-mine host’s ancient house of entertainment, some
-of them swarthy, black-bearded men, others with
-light tawny hair and blue eyes. True types of
-the hardy race were they; their strong, uncovered
-brown arms, which had all day long been working
-under a baking sun, upon a shadeless flat, telling
-a tale of sinewy power that came not a jot under
-the renowned strength of their mighty ancestors.
-Mine host himself, a ruddy-faced man of middle
-age, was there too, smoking a long well-coloured
-pipe, and gazing in a thoughtful way across the
-long stretch of fen, over which the shades of
-night were steadily creeping.</p>
-
-<p>‘What be ye gaping at, master?’ quoth one of
-the brawny labourers, as the landlord shaded his
-eyes with his hand and endeavoured to make out
-some indistinct object.</p>
-
-<p>‘What’re ye looking after, Hobb?’ asked another
-one in a bantering tone. ‘Can’t ye believe your
-own eyes, man?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Nay, Swenson, I can’t,’ returned mine host,
-lowering his hand and turning to the person
-who addressed him. ‘I want a good pair sadly.’</p>
-
-<p>‘You’re like to get ’em staring over the fen
-in that way, my boy!’ remarked Swenson with
-a hoarse laugh.</p>
-
-<p>‘Lend me your eyes here, Harold,’ went on
-the innkeeper. ‘Take a squint across that bank
-and tell me what you see.’</p>
-
-<p>‘What be the good o’ askin’ me?’ returned
-the man. ‘I can’t tell a barn-door from a peat-stack
-at fifty yards’ distance.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I’ll tell ye, Dipping,’ cried a young sunburnt
-giant, starting up from the bench on which he
-had been sitting. ‘Where is’t?’</p>
-
-<p>‘You see yon tall willow?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Him as sticks up there by the dike?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Ay. Look out there to the left o’ it, across
-the fen, and tell me what ye see.’</p>
-
-<p>The fellow’s blue eyes were directed with an
-earnest gaze towards the distant spot which the
-landlord pointed out; and then he turned sharply
-round and exclaimed: ‘It be two horsemen.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Are ye sure?’ asked mine host, as he bent
-his brows and vainly tried to make out the far-off
-speck.</p>
-
-<p>‘Quite sure,’ was the reply. ‘They’re coming
-up the road by the old North Lode.—There; now
-they’re passing One Man’s Mill.’</p>
-
-<p>‘I see ’em!’ exclaimed Swenson, pointing
-towards a solitary windmill, the jagged sails of
-which formed a slight break in the long line
-of misty flatness.</p>
-
-<p>‘Perchance they be travellers, and will want
-beds for the night,’ said mine host, roused to
-action by the mere possibility of such an event
-occurring. ‘I will see that the place is got ready
-for them.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Hobb Dipping is soon counting his chickens,’
-remarked one of the uncouth fenmen, laughing,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_702">{702}</span>
-as the landlord of the <i>Saxonford Arms</i> disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>‘Ay, it’s like him all over,’ rejoined Swenson,
-while he gathered up some implements and
-prepared to go.—‘Are ye coming with me,
-Harold?’</p>
-
-<p>‘No, my boy; I’m agoing to stop and see who
-yon horsemen may be. News are scarce in these
-parts. If you’re off now, why, good-night to
-ye.’</p>
-
-<p>Swenson nods, bids the man good-night, and
-then strides off in the direction of the old gray
-tower. The major part of the loiterers go with
-him; but three or four still linger, looking along
-the misty road, and waiting as if in expectation
-of something.</p>
-
-<p>A light up in one of the windows of the inn
-tells that Hobb Dipping is preparing his best
-room for the reception of the approaching
-travellers, in case it should be needed; and a
-savoury smell of hot meat which issues forth
-through the open doorway of the hostel makes
-the few hungry watchers that remain feel inclined
-to seek their own supper-tables. At length mine
-host has finished his task, and the most presentable
-apartment that the house contains is ready
-for instant occupation if necessary. Honest Hobb
-Dipping gazes wistfully out of a rickety diamond-paned
-window, and thinks that his labour must
-have been in vain. The moon is rising from the
-shadow of a thick bank of vapour, its dim red
-outline as yet but faintly seen through the misty
-cloud. It is getting late; the travellers must
-have passed by the bridge, and ridden along the
-flood-bank. ‘If they know not the way well,’
-mutters Dipping to himself, ‘they’ll lose themselves
-in the fen for certain. An awkward path
-that be, specially binight, with a damp fog
-rising.’</p>
-
-<p>At this moment, a clatter of horses’ hoofs
-breaks the silence, and two horsemen canter
-over the shaky timber bridge and draw up in
-front of the old inn. Mine host bustles about
-shouting a number of confused directions; the
-one youthful domestic which the place boasts of
-running helplessly to and fro and doing nothing.
-The foremost rider, suddenly leaping from his
-horse, strides into the inn, and flings himself
-into a chair, ordering a private room and supper
-to be made ready at once.</p>
-
-<p>Honest Dipping hurries about, unused to
-strangers of distinction, bringing in liquor and
-glasses, meat, platters and knives, besides a
-quantity of other things that are not wanted,
-the stranger meanwhile having taken possession
-of the room up-stairs which had been hurriedly
-prepared for him.</p>
-
-<p>Presently follows the gentleman’s servant, a
-short muscular fellow, with a sullen, lowering
-countenance; and a short conversation takes
-place between the man and his master.</p>
-
-<p>‘Are the horses put up, Derrick?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Yes, sir.’</p>
-
-<p>‘And the pistols?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Here they are, Sir Carnaby.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Loaded, of course?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Ay, sir, both of them.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Right! Now, what think you of this part?
-Is it not quiet enough for us? I never was
-in such a dead-alive wilderness before; and
-taking that into consideration, I fancy it is possible
-to last out a few days even in this ghastly
-shanty. After that, I shall ride to Lynn and
-take ship, for, as I live, the country is getting
-too hot to hold me.’</p>
-
-<p>Derrick gave vent to a sound resembling a
-grunt, and muttered a few words containing
-seemingly some disparaging reference to the
-‘king over the water.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Hush, you fool!’ exclaimed his master in
-a low whisper; ‘you should know better than
-to speak of what does not concern you. Be wise,
-and hold your tongue.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Your pardon, Sir Carnaby,’ replied Derrick;
-‘it shall not be spoken of again.’</p>
-
-<p>‘And mind, Derrick, in case we should be
-inquired after, let the rustic boors know that
-I am Mr Morton, a landowner from somewhere
-or other. You, Derrick, are John Jones; so
-mind and answer to your name. D’ye hear?’</p>
-
-<p>The attendant’s face relaxed into a sly grin
-as he answered: ‘I hear, sir.’</p>
-
-<p>The truth is, Mr Morton—or to call him by his
-proper name, Sir Carnaby Vincent—was a young
-baronet of good family, and reputed to be enormously
-rich. In consequence of his being mixed
-up in some disturbances occasioned by the Jacobite
-party, he had found it necessary, at a previous
-period, to avoid the cognisance of the authorities.
-But a certain nobleman having interested
-himself in the youthful plotter’s behalf, the
-affair was hushed up, and Sir Carnaby returned
-to society once more. Having a relish for all
-kinds of intrigue, besides being of too excitable
-a temperament to exist long in a state of quiet,
-the madcap young fellow again entered heart
-and soul into the intrigues of Prince Charles’
-followers, and this time succeeded only too
-well in attracting notice. A warrant was
-issued for his apprehension; and Sir Carnaby
-once more had to seek safety in flight, taking
-with him a quantity of valuable papers, and the
-blessings of all his companions engaged in the
-perilous cause. He was accompanied by only
-one person, his servant Derrick, a rough but
-doggedly faithful retainer, who had followed the
-fortunes of his house for nearly thirty years.
-Derrick himself cared not a jot for the Jacobite
-party to which Sir Carnaby was so attached;
-his first thought was to follow his master,
-and share the dangers which he might have to
-encounter. Their retreat from the metropolis
-was safely effected, much to the satisfaction
-of the baronet, who was really seriously
-alarmed at this second unlucky discovery. From
-London they journeyed through Cambridgeshire,
-Sir Carnaby’s plan being to lie quiet for a few
-days in the heart of the fens, then afterwards
-proceeding to some obscure seaport on the borders
-of the Wash, to take sail for a foreign land,
-where he could best forward the fortunes both
-of himself and his hapless Prince.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER II.—THE JACOBITE.</h3>
-
-<p>‘Where did you place the saddle-bags, Derrick?’
-asked Sir Carnaby, when Hobb Dipping had
-quitted the old wainscoted apartment in which
-his distinguished visitor was about to partake
-of supper.</p>
-
-<p>Speech was a gift which nature had bestowed
-very sparingly upon the attendant; moreover,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_703">{703}</span>
-he was possessed of a rough, unmelodious voice.
-Pointing towards a chair in one corner, he slowly
-ejaculated: ‘There, sir—underneath.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Good!’ said Sir Carnaby, seating himself at the
-table.—‘By the way, Derrick, I think it would
-be just as well to look after the innkeeper: his
-glances are a trifle too curious to please me.
-When I have finished my supper, you had better
-descend into the public room and try to ascertain
-his opinion of us.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Right, sir,’ replied the attendant.</p>
-
-<p>‘Come from behind my chair, you varlet,’ said
-the baronet, motioning him at the same time
-with his hand. ‘Draw up to the table and break
-your fast with me; we shall gain time by so
-doing.’</p>
-
-<p>Derrick sat down respectfully at the farther
-end of the board, and gazed in a thoughtful way
-at a dark patch of sky which could be seen
-through the diamond-shaped panes of glass in a
-window opposite him.</p>
-
-<p>‘You seem in no hurry to refresh the inner
-man,’ remarked Sir Carnaby. ‘What are you
-thinking of, Derrick?’</p>
-
-<p>‘A dream, sir.’</p>
-
-<p>‘A what?’</p>
-
-<p>‘A dream, sir,’ repeated Derrick—‘one I had
-last night.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Well, as your mind appears to be somewhat
-uneasy,’ remarked Sir Carnaby, with a slight
-smile playing over his features, ‘I should
-recommend open confession as being the proper
-thing to relieve it.’</p>
-
-<p>‘There’s little enough to tell, sir,’ said Derrick;
-‘’twas only a bit of dark sky up there that
-brought it back to me.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Well,’ said Sir Carnaby simply.</p>
-
-<p>‘It seemed to me,’ continued the attendant, ‘as
-if I was riding alone, holding your horse by
-the bridle. The moon was up, and the sky looked
-the same as it does out there. I can remember
-now quite plain that I felt kind of troubled,
-but what about, I know just as little as you, sir.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Is that the whole story?’ asked Sir Carnaby
-with a laugh. ‘Well, I can tell you, good
-Derrick, so far as riding alone goes, your prophecy
-is likely to prove a true one, though I certainly
-don’t intend you to carry off my horse with
-you.—See here; this is something more important
-than a heavy-headed dream. You must start
-to-morrow for the Grange. Be in the saddle
-early, and don’t spare your spurs.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Am I to go alone, sir?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Certainly. The journey has no object beyond
-the delivery of this letter; and as inquiry is sure
-to be pretty rife concerning me, I shall stay
-where I am and await your return.’</p>
-
-<p>Derrick received the sealed envelope which
-was handed to him with a gruff but respectful
-‘Right, sir,’ and then relapsed into his customary
-silence.</p>
-
-<p>‘I shall leave it to your discretion to find out
-the way,’ said Sir Carnaby. ‘Of course you will
-go armed?’</p>
-
-<p>The attendant opened his coat without speaking
-and touched the hilt of a stout hanger which he
-wore at his side.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Carnaby smiled. ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘you are
-ready enough to play at blood-letting; but that
-sort of thing is best avoided. Let your movements
-be as quiet and speedy as possible; and
-when you reach your destination, seek out
-Captain Hollis by means of that address. Give
-the note into his hands, then make haste back.
-I shall have other work for you when you return.’</p>
-
-<p>‘More plots,’ thought Derrick, but he merely
-uttered a grunt and pocketed the letter.</p>
-
-<p>‘This room,’ continued the baronet, ‘seems to
-be parlour and bedchamber in one. So far well.
-If there should be any occasion to consult me
-again before you start, one rap at this door will
-be quite sufficient to wake me. I am a light
-sleeper.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Anything more, sir?’</p>
-
-<p>‘Nothing more to-night; you have all my
-orders for the present.—Good-night, Derrick.’</p>
-
-<p>‘Good-night, sir.’</p>
-
-<p>When the last faint clank of Derrick’s boots
-has ceased to ring upon the staircase, Sir
-Carnaby Vincent rises and locks the door,
-glancing outside first, to see that no one lurks
-without. This being done, he carefully bars the
-shutters over the window, looks inside two
-cupboards which the room contains, and then
-having ascertained that he is not likely to be
-overlooked, draws forth the afore-mentioned
-saddle-bags. A strange look of anxiety passes
-over the fugitive’s face as he plunges his hand
-into one of them, and brings out a small,
-shallow, oaken box, black with age. Its contents
-are apparently of no little value, for the
-lid is secured by two locks, and a corresponding
-number of blotchy red seals, upon which may
-be deciphered the impression of a crest. Sir
-Carnaby turns the box over and examines its
-fastenings, then rises and walks slowly round
-the room, as if in search of something. His
-manner at this moment is most strange, and
-the light step with which he treads over the
-old flooring does not awaken enough creaking
-to disturb a mouse. Four times round the room
-he goes, with a curious expression on his face
-which would puzzle even a skilful physiognomist
-to interpret, then stooping down, he places the
-box on the floor and appears to listen.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_MUSK-RAT_OF_INDIA">THE MUSK-RAT OF INDIA.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3">FROM AN ANGLO-INDIAN.</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> musk-rat is from six to eight inches long,
-of a slatish-blue colour, with a long movable
-snout, and diminutive eyes. Its skin is very
-loose, and quite conceals the extremities, only
-allowing the feet to be seen. This formation
-occasions the peculiar pattering of its run. The
-tail, broad at its base, is pinkish and bare of everything
-except a few hairs; ears are diminutive.
-Loathed and detested by all, this creature leads a
-charmed life; only a few dogs will kill it, and
-then there is always sneezing and a little foaming
-afterwards. Cats follow but won’t touch
-it; it is, moreover, equally avoided by more
-aristocratic rats and mice. As the animal runs
-along the wall of the room, it emits a kind of
-self-satisfied purr, which, if alarmed, breaks into
-a squeak, and immediately the scent-bottle is
-opened. If there is light to see the tiny creature,
-you will observe it scanning with its nose all
-parts of the horizon in search of what caused
-the alarm; the eyes apparently being unequal to
-the task.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_704">{704}</span></p>
-
-<p>Musk-rats have a singular habit of always
-running along the walls of a room, never crossing
-from one wall to the other; hence, as they are
-not swift movers, they are easily overtaken, and
-a blow from a cane instantly kills the animal.
-Traps are of little use in capturing these
-creatures; and if one is captured, that trap is
-for ever useless as regards ordinary rats and
-mice, which won’t approach it after being contaminated.
-‘Muskies’ are omnivorous and very
-voracious. During the rains, the insect world is
-on the wing. If at this season you place a night-light
-on the ground near the beat of a musk-rat,
-you will be amused at watching its antics in
-trying to catch some of the buzzers round the
-light, or those crawling up the wall, and will
-be surprised at its agility. The captives are
-ruthlessly crunched, and the animal never seems
-satiated; at the same time its enjoyment is
-evinced by its purring. Woe betide him should
-another musky invade this happy hunting-ground!
-War is at once proclaimed, and immediately
-the two are fighting for their lives,
-squeaking, snapping, biting, rolling over and over,
-and all the time letting off their awful scent-bottles.
-You, in the comparative distance, just
-escape the disgusting odour; but the insect invasion
-catch it full, and quickly leave the scene.
-And so the fight goes on, until you happily catch
-both the combatants with one blow of your cane,
-and the stinking turmoil ceases; and having
-thrown open the doors to ventilate the room,
-you are glad to retire to rest.</p>
-
-<p>I was awakened one night at Arrah by the
-squeaking and stench of two musk-rats, which
-were in mortal combat near my bed. Quietly
-rising and seizing my slipper, I smote the combatants
-a wrathful blow, to which one succumbed,
-and the other escaped through the
-venetian. I then lay down again, but only to
-hear the hateful p-r-r-r-r of ‘musky,’ who had
-come to look after his dead brother. Seizing
-him, he carried him off to the venetian, and
-there dropped him with a squeak, as I rose
-to my elbow. Bringing the dead rat back and
-laying my slipper handy, I again lay down.
-Very soon I heard the disgusting purr and saw
-the dead musky being carried off; and now the
-slipper was true, and both muskies lay prone.</p>
-
-<p>Apropos to this, if you throw out a dead rat
-or mouse, he is at once swooped upon by a kite
-or crow; but both these scavengers will avoid
-a dead musk-rat; the kite will swoop and pass
-on as if he had not noticed the odour, whilst
-our old friend the crow will alight at a safe
-distance, and with one eye survey the dead
-shrew. Perhaps in that glance a whiff from the
-scent-bottle reaches him, for he hops off a yard
-or two, caws, and then rubs his beak once or
-twice on the ground. Then he takes an observation
-with the other eye, caws, and flies up into
-the overhanging nína tree. No one will touch
-the dead musk-rat; even those faithful undertakers,
-the burying-beetles, avoid him.</p>
-
-<p>Now, what is the scent of the musk-rat like?
-When I was last at home in 1875, I went into
-a greenhouse on a hot summer day, and found
-it given up to the musk-plant. ‘Muskies!
-muskies!’ I exclaimed, as I fled from the stifling,
-dank, and fetid atmosphere. Get up that combination—a
-hot day, a dank, humid, and suffocating
-greenhouse given up to the musk-plant,
-and you will have the full effect of only one
-full-blown musky. The odour of the plant,
-heavy when close, is delicate when diffused;
-the scent of the musk-rat, on the other hand,
-is heavy when diffused, and insupportable when
-near. The marvellous diffusibility of this odour
-is illustrated in many ways. It has long been
-maintained that the musk-rat has only to
-pass over a closely corked bottle of wine to
-destroy its contents. I have tasted sherry so
-destroyed, and at the same time have placed
-corked bottles of water in the runs of musk-rats
-without any defilement. The odour won’t
-permeate glass, so the bottle of sherry must
-have been contaminated by a defiled cork.
-Place a porous water-goblet (<i>sooráhí</i>) in the run
-of a musk-rat, and defilement is secure; and if
-that goblet endures for a hundred years, it will
-during that century affect all water which may
-be put into it. These animals seem to enjoy
-communicating their disgusting odour to surrounding
-objects. It doesn’t follow that mere
-contact conveys it, for I have often handled these
-animals without contamination; but there is
-undoubtedly—setting aside the scent-bottle as
-a means of defence—an instinctive marking of
-objects for purposes of recognition, sheer mischief,
-or for the easing of the secretion organ.</p>
-
-<p>Another anomaly pertains to this animal:
-though so disgusting to others, it is not so
-to itself; and it is one of the tidiest and most
-cleanly of animals. Its nesting arrangements,
-too, are very peculiar; nothing is more greedily
-utilised than paper, which it tears up. Some
-years ago, I lived in a boarded house, and used
-to be nightly worried by a pattering and purring
-musky dragging a newspaper towards a certain
-corner. Arrived there, it disappeared down a
-hole and pulled the paper after it—that is, as
-much as would enter the hole. If I gently
-removed the paper, the inquisitive nose would
-appear ranging round the hole, and shortly after,
-the animal itself in quest of the paper. I had
-the boarding taken up, and there, in a paper
-nest, lay five pink and naked muskies, all heads,
-with hardly any bodies, and quite blind.</p>
-
-<p>I cannot find one redeeming trait in the
-character and conduct of <i>Sorex cœrulescens</i>, and
-I must admit that he is an ill-favoured beast,
-and of questionable utility.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_DAY_IN_EARLY_SUMMER">A DAY IN EARLY SUMMER.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">A little</span> wood, wherein with silver sound</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">A brooklet whispers all the sunny day,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And on its banks all flow’rets which abound</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">In the bright circle of the charmèd May:</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Primroses, whose faint fragrance you may know</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">From other blooms; and oxlips, whose sweet breath</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Is kissed by windflowers—star-like gems which blow</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">Beside pale sorrel, in whose veins is death;</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Larch-trees are there, with plumes of palest green;</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">And cherry, dropping leaves of scented white;</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">While happy birds, amid the verdant screen,</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">Warble their songs of innocent delight.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Surely they err who say life is not blest;</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Hither may come the weary and have rest.</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse right">J. C. H.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="center">Printed and Published by <span class="smcap">W. &amp; R. Chambers</span>, 47 Paternoster
-Row, <span class="smcap">London</span>, and 339 High Street, <span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved.</i></p>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 44, VOL. I, NOVEMBER 1, 1884 ***</div>
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